From the Pentagon to LA Recruiting: Lt. Col. Jay De Jesus on Army Opportunity | Talking Downey

In this episode of Talking Downey, Mayor Mario sits down with Lieutenant Colonel Steven Jay De Jesus, the newly arrived commander of the U.S. Army's Los Angeles Recruiting Battalion — five companies and 28 stations spanning Southern California.

Lt. Col. De Jesus enlisted in the Nevada Army National Guard in 2005 to pay for college, commissioned through UNLV ROTC into the Field Artillery branch in 2008, and later moved into Psychological Operations. He served as aide-de-camp to Under Secretary of the Army Camarillo, traveling internationally on trips to the Indo-Pacific and to Germany and Poland. Mario, who has served as a Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army (CASA) under four different Army Secretaries, shares his own perspective on that world. As a selected Olmsted Scholar, Lt. Col. De Jesus studied at the Defense Language Institute, was redirected from Vietnam to Singapore, and completed a master's degree in Strategic Studies there.

The conversation covers the Army hitting its active-duty and reserve recruiting missions for the first time in a decade, the misconceptions that keep some schools and counselors from letting recruiters on campus (including a story about the LA County Sheriff being called on a group delivering Porto's pastries to a counselor event), and the roughly 250 career fields available in the Army — only about 14% of which involve direct combat roles.

They also break down the PaYS Program (Partnership for Youth Success), which guarantees departing soldiers a job interview — not a job, but a guaranteed shot — with up to five of the 2,000+ partner companies, including Disney, the City of Downey, and the LA County Sheriff's Department. Lt. Col. De Jesus shares his family's story too: his father enlisted in the U.S. Air Force from the Philippines, and a dinner-table argument over joining JROTC in high school set him on the path to a 20-year Army career.

Have questions or thoughts? Mario's cell is 562-706-4114.

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