Staff Sgt. Thomas Carter is station commander at Lehigh’s new Army Career Center on Homestead Rd.

The United States Army isn’t your dad’s Army any more. Today’s Army offers top notch programs with financial incentives to attract young men and women to serve their nation and gain educational credits, enough sometimes to pay for a college education. Length of service determines the financial incentives.

That’s the message that Staff Sgt. Charles J. Cotto wants to bring to young people in Lehigh with the opening of the new Army Career Center on Homestead Rd. in the Bealls Shopping Plaza.

The office had posted signs on its front door for the past month or so that it would soon open and last week, the office opened without much fanfare and already several young people have stopped in to get information and several have signed the dotted line to join the U.S. Army.

“We haven’t done much promotion yet, but these young people in Lehigh found us, sought us out and we gave them information and explained the great benefits today of becoming a U.S. soldier, nothing like the Army recruitment of a generation ago.

“There have been a lot of positive changes in recruitment today,” said Cotto, who is the Army Career Center’s station commander at 1219 Homestead Rd.

Signing the dotted Line: Ryan Gambill, 20, of Lehigh and an East Lee County High 2009 graduate, signed up last week to join the U.S. Army at Lehigh’s new Army Career Center. He left last weekend and is spending this week as his first week of Basic Training at Ft. Benning, Ga. He said he knew they were going to cut his long hair, but may most of it before he left town. Photo by Mel Toadvine

And he is looking forward to the May 24 Open House for the community, inviting everyone to visit the new career center and see what the modern day Army of 2011 offers its soldiers today.

Cotto has been in the U.S. military for several years and served two tours of duty in Iraq.

“I am from a family of eight who have served in our military. My cousin Jeffery Cotto is currently stationed with the 75th Rangers out of Savanna Ga. He is currently stationed overseas in Afghanistan and was involved with the capture of Osama bin Laden. My other cousin is Victor Cotto who graduated from the Citadel College and is currently an F-18 pilot in the Navy,” Cotto said.

On this particular day when The Citizen visited the new Army Career Center last week, 20-year-old Ryan Gambill of Lehigh Acres was signing the dotted line to sign up for the Army. A sports star at E. Lee Count y High School in football, Gambill said he had earned credits from Edison College that will benefit him when he begins service and enters Basic Training as a Private first class E-3, while many start off as privates E-1.

That will put him in a position of some influence as he undergoes the vigorous training he will receive at Ft. Benning Ga. He was planning to board a plane this past weekend and should be at Ft. Benning this week in his first week of Basic Training.

Front of Army Career Center, which is now open on Homestead Rd. in Bealls Plaza

“He’ll do well,” said Sgt. Cotto. “Ryan is in great physical shape. He was a Lee County All Star player and has already spent a semester at Walsh University in Canton, Ohio, where he has gained several credits which he will take with him to the military.

Cotto signed up to go in to the Infantry, but Cotto said there many programs today for young Americas to sign up and often end up with a college education paid for by the Army.

“Today, there is a contract with everything written down and agreed upon. It includes the compensation, the number of credits one may have gathered and where they will go for training,” Cotto said.

He said today recruits interested in the military can sign up for the Army in stints of two, three, four, five and six years.

Also working the new Army Career Center – note that the name “recruiting” is no longer being used in the Center’s name – are Staff Sgt. Thomas Carter and Staff Sgt. Chevis Musselman, who came here from Germany and will spend six months in Lehigh.

Changing from jersey to fatigues: Ryan Gambill, 20, of Lehigh, a star athlete at East Lee County High School in 2009, shows his jersey that will be displayed on the wall at the new Army Career Center on Homestead Rd. Gambill signed up last week and is beginning his first week of Basic Training this week. He entered the military as a PFC E-3 because of college credits he had earned. Photo by Mel Toadvine

“The whole military has been restructured to meet the demands of today’s young people who want to serve their country,” Cotto said.

The new Lehigh Army Career Center is the first ever recruitment station in Lehigh. There are others in Cape Coral and Fort Myers and young people interested in the military option have had to drive over there to talk to Army representatives about signing up.

“Lehigh has become so large and so many young people are trying to find us over in Fort Myers, many of whom we have come to know, it was decided to open up the first Army Career Center in Lehigh at a very convenient location,” Cotto said.

He is 34 and originally from Ft. Lauderdale and joined the Army in August of 1997 and trained in Ft. Benning, Ga. He lives in the area and he and his wife have an infant child.

After Basic Training, he took his advanced training in Infantry and over the course of years, served twice in Iraq and also in Korea.

Staff Sgt. Thomas Carter is another recruiter at the Army Career Center in Lehigh Acres.

He was involved in the 2003 invasion of Iraq landing in the country on barges. He said they had 5,000 rounds of 50-caliber ammo and ended with 210 rounds left when the operation was over.

“Our Army Career Center is not hard to find. We are next to Fonzi’s All You can Eat restaurant and cater-cornered from a barbershop. We’re close to FGUA and there is ample parking in front of us,” he said.

Another new aspect of the restructured Army is that once a young man or woman is finished with Basic, they can come home for leave. If they spend two weeks working on recruitment out of the Career Center, they get an additional two weeks of leave before they are to report to their next assignment.

Currently Aliyssa Albaza is home from basic and is doing just that, Cotto said. She can talk in the schools and other places where young people gather like sporting events.

“Aliz is also a graduate of East Lee County High School where she played basketball and participsted in track. She signed up for four years and is stationed at Ft. Bragg, N.C., with plans of going into the Airborne.

Cotto and his fellow professional recruiters are getting the office in shape. One of the things they are doing is framing the jerseys worn by the men and women they have recruited who were active in sports. They plan to hang them on the walls of the 5,000 square feet of office space.

Another option for those who sign up for the service is a program at the Center where recruits can work out like they will be doing in Basic Training. We also teach them the Army values such as loyalty and duty, respect and selfless service to our country. “It’s all part of recruitment today,” to prepare them for Basic Training.”

Cotto said not only is the Center available for the exercise part, but so are adults in the community who want to come out and see how many push-ups they can do.

“Today when we send them to the Army after all the tests, they are a bit ahead of their counterpoints.

The Army Career Center serves all of Lee County including those interested in seeing what the Army offers who are from Hendry, Glades and Collier counties. He said students do not have to be members of their school’s Junior ROTC units to be available, but the training is an advantage for sure, Cotto said.

Today, he sees the enlistment in the U.S. Army as a great career plan for young people who come out of school and or college and are unable to find a job.

“In the Army, they are often surprised at how good the benefits are. We’re not talking about a small amount of money for a new recruit.

“They can join today and get $1,500 a month after taxes … that is their take home pay,” he said. If they go in with a higher rank, they get more pay, he said.

Other minor changes in the Army today are that each recruit is encouraged to have a cell phone for calling home and calling friends.

“Those wall hung public telephones are gone today, places where solders stood in long lines to get to call home,” Cotto laughed.

“And everything a soldier does can be used to get into or to return to college. So many college credits are given that most who come out are able to go to college often with the Army paying for it.

Cotto also noted that the Army Career Center is also the place to for those interested in signing up with the Army Reserves.

“The Amy will help you pay for college and your service requires once a month in training and two weeks of out in the field duty. He said there is a new Army Reserve unit now open at Cape Coral.

As far as Cotto, he said the Army pays him well at his rank and that an allowance is also paid for his living expenses which affords him to live in a nice home in Cape Coral. The Army also pays for his utilities.

“What I can save from the very lucrative allowance is mine to keep,” he said.

He also has free medical coverage for himself and his family that Uncle Sam pays for. You can’t beat it.“

At the official ribbon cutting set for May 24, there will be plenty of refreshment for all that attend. He also said there will be some gifts given away, some including black T-shirts which themselves are a walking advertisement for the U.S. Army.

On the back of the shirts, is “There’s strong … then there is Army strong. Goarmy.com.“

Hours the new Army Career Center are open are Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Center is closed on Saturdays and Sundays. If you want to use the facilities for push-ups and other physical training, young or old, call Cotto at 369-1144 of stop by the new Center. There is plenty of literature there for almost any option a prospective enlistee may want.