FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- On Jan. 27, close to 40 "future Soldiers" got a glimpse of what military life will be like during a tour of Fort Leonard Wood.
About once a month, recruiters from the Joplin Recruiting Company take new and potential recruits on a tour of Fort Leonard Wood, called the "Future Soldiers tour." The future Soldiers come from southern Missouri towns such as Neosho, Bolivar, Branson and Springfield.
"Future Soldiers" are men and women between the ages of 17 and 34 that have either taken the oath to enlist and are awaiting basic training slots, or are considering enlisting. The opportunity to tour a basic training installation is a rare one among Army recruits, since there are only four basic training installations in the U.S., including Fort Leonard Wood.
"It's kind of giving a little aspect to what the base is like," said Staff Sgt. Mark Hinterleiter, Army recruiter for the Branson area.
On Jan. 27, the tour's first stop was the 43rd Adjutant General Battalion building, which manages the reception of all new trainees at Fort Leonard Wood.
Next, the participants visited a "starship" barracks building, a dining facility and training areas for engineer, military police and chemical corps Soldiers.
Whether or not new recruits will attend training here, "They get to see what basic training units will kind of look like," Hinterleiter said.
Besides taking a look at facilities, the visitors were able to try their hand at a few training simulators, such as Driver Simulator Training and Engagement Skills Trainer, a high-tech version of a video game that combines air-powered weapons and on-screen scenarios.
The EST was part of the military police section of the tour, provided by Sgt. 1st Class Craig Sturm, a course manager for MP students here. Sturm helped explain features of Maglin Hall, used for MP training, and showed the future Soldiers the MP station, the bar confinement facility (mock jail), and Camp Charlie.
Sturm said tours like this show "future Soldiers" a snapshot of military life -- and it is often a different picture than they imagined.
"In all honesty, it's eye-opening, because everybody has an image of something in their own head (of what it looks like). Until you actually come see it, and listen to someone else who has already done it, it can really sway your opinions," he said.
For example, they may learn that MPs are involved in a variety of operations.
"All they think is police work -- but that's not all we do. We do so much more," Sturm said. "We do route reconnaissance; we do area security; we help displaced civilians, and so there's a lot of compassion to what we do as well, not just kicking in doors and throwing handcuffs on people. That's just the glamorous, fun part."
Most importantly, the tour can give visitors like these more peace of mind, just knowing what to expect, he added.
"(It) lets them know … what's going to be expected of them," Sturm said. "Especially if they are going to be MPs, (engineers or chemical corps), they can see the training that we are conducting right now."
This was especially true for Pfc. Matthew Preston, from Neosho, who will be assigned to an engineer battalion here in a couple of weeks.
"I was very nervous to begin with, and just coming here helped me relax a little bit," he said.
Likewise, Kelsey Pickard, will be joining the Army Reserves, felt more confident about training after the tour.
"I actually got somewhat of an idea of what it will be like, because … this is not how I pictured it at all. I think I'll be a little more comfortable with the surroundings," she said.
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