Saturday morning dozens of new Army recruits gathered together at City Park for the Mega Future Soldier Event to prepare to ship off to basic training.
What began years ago as a small group of recruits has grown to include recruits from the entire Baton Rouge metropolitan area.
Staff Sgt. Enrique Leuvano, head of the Mega Future Soldier Event, described the program as a basic preparation to help those who have enlisted and will soon be shipping off to basic training.
“Today, we’re doing an assessment of all our future soldiers,” Leuvano said. “We’re going to teach them a variety of classes and test them at the end to see who is the top future soldier here today.”
New recruits received training in skills like infantry tactics, land navigation and other basic soldier techniques.
Among those gathered on Saturday was a former University student who said his time at school helped him prepare for life as an enlisted soldier. University alumnus Corey Williams said that being a college graduate has helped him feel better prepared and a step ahead of where he could have been had he enlisted right out of high school.
“It can only help, I think, to have graduated from college,” Williams said. “It helps me know that I can complete something, and it taught me discipline and time management.”
Army recruiters said they don’t exclusively look for college graduates but that education of any kind, especially college, is highly encouraged.
“College absolutely helps,” Leuvano said. “Every bit of education helps you. College helps you to learn that it is up to you to make things happen. That is something that helps a lot in the Army.”
Veteran soldiers said they wish they had the same opportunity when they enlisted years ago and that helping future soldiers prepare for life in the Army marks an important step in the life of a new recruit.
“Our future soldiers really gain a lot,” said Sgt. Ecera Bell. “When I joined 21 years ago, there was no training at all and this would have been helpful. With this training, they have at least an idea of how to prepare themselves.”

Gallery • 2 Photos

Richard Redmann

Sgt. Franklin Coson (left) explains how to fire on a target Sept. 13, 2013 to Army Future Soldiers Pvt. Danasia Jones (middle) and Pvt. Hakeem McCay (right) at BREC City-Brooks Community Park.