While a few people checked the array of military and public safety vehicles and equipment on display outside the Aberdeen Proving Ground Recreation Center Wednesday, the interior was packed with people, including local military recruits and their families, who were honored by APG leaders before they ship out for recruit training.
"It's what motivates me as a soldier, to know there are great Americans that are going to follow in my footsteps," Maj. Gen. Peter D. Utley, commander of the Army Test and Evaluation Command, or ATEC, said during his opening remarks.
The ceremony, called Our Community Salutes, was one of many events taking place at the Harford County Army post this week for Armed Forces Week.
Armed Forces Day, which is the nationwide celebration of the five branches of the military – Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard – will be Saturday.
Utley thanked the 68 recruits for their willingness to volunteer for the military. He noted that about 1 percent of the U.S. population is in the service.
"Those here today truly deserve our unwavering support and respect for taking that step," he said.
Utley said the recruits will be entering "a very complex environment" and a military that is significantly different from when he joined more than 30 years ago.
"They're smart, they're motivated, and I'm very, very confident that they will succeed," he said.
The recruits lined up, and each person received an identification tag, known as a "dog tag," and a certificate. They also posed for a picture with Utley, Command Sgt. Maj. William G. Bruns and Dianne Crawford, wife of Maj. Gen. Bruce T. Crawford, the senior commander of APG.
Their parents or guardians were also recognized.
Utley also honored service members who served during the Vietnam War, as this year is the 50th anniversary of the beginning of American troop involvement in Vietnam.
Utley mentioned his father, who served then, and he asked audience members who served during the war to stand and be recognized.
Aberdeen Mayor Mike Bennett stood.
"We must never forget those great Americans who served," Utley said.
Seven Navy, 29 Marine Corps and 32 Army recruits were honored, according to 1st Sgt. Daniel Nelson, a member of APG's Army garrison.
Nelson said the ceremony was Maj. Gen. Crawford's idea.
"It's our way of reaching out to the community and bringing recognition to the young people who are signing up [for the military]," Nelson said.
Mercedes Garcia, 18, of Edgewood, was among the Marine recruits.
The Edgewood High School senior said she "just wanted a challenge."
"I knew them as the most challenging, so I went with the Marines," she said.
Mercedes said she will ship out to boot camp in Parris Island, S.C., in September.
"I'm excited," she said. "I can't wait to get boot camp over with so I can call myself a Marine."
Kyle Legaspi, 20, of Perry Hall, said he joined the Army because being in the military "runs in the family."
He said his grandfather served during Vietnam, and his cousin is an active-duty member of the Air Force.
Legaspi, a student at the Community College of Baltimore County in Essex, will head to basic training in Ft. Jackson, S.C., in August.
He said the Army will give him more job opportunities than other branches of the service, and he wants to be a vehicle mechanic.
Marine Corps recruit Aaron Peterson, 18, of Edgewood, talked with his parents after the ceremony. He is also a senior at Edgewood High School, and he will ship out for boot camp in June.
"He graduates on June 3, and he leaves on June 8," his mother, Jennifer Schneider, said.
Aaron's stepfather, Edward Schneider, said he "couldn't be more proud."
His mother also said she was "very proud."
"He's been wanting to be a Marine as long as he's been able to talk," Jennifer Schneider said.
Aaron said he grew up with relatives in the military, or his family had "somebody that knows the military around us."
"He's a great asset," his mother said. "They're getting a wonderful young man."
Edward Schneider said he has not been in the military, but his father was, and he has relatives who served during World War II and the Korean War.
"I just hope [the Marine Corps] gives him the opportunity to travel the world and let him experience everything that he can," he said of his stepson.
Bennett said after the ceremony that he served in Vietnam from November 1968 to November 1969. He was an Army air traffic controller deployed to various areas of South Vietnam, including Song Be, near the Cambodia border.
"It was a really hot area," he said, referring to the heavy enemy activity around Song Be.
He called the recruit ceremony "pretty awesome."
"I think it tells them how honored this profession is, and there are people really happy to see them taking up this job," Bennett said of military service.
Static displays
When APG has been open to the public in the past for Military Appreciation observances, people have been treated to live-fire weapons demonstrations.
The Army has stopped those demonstrations because of concerns about the environment and federal finances, but people could still see an array of vehicles and equipment in the community center parking lot.
Two APG fire trucks were available, along with armored and un-armored Humvees and an AN/TPQ-53 radar system, which is designed to detect incoming artillery and mortar fire, plus tactical equipment and vehicles used by the APG Police Department.
Victor Rodriguez, a civilian employee, was among the staffers who interacted with the public looking at the military equipment.
"They're pretty excited," he said of the public response. "It's good to see what equipment the soldier has."
Rodriguez, who joined the Army in the 1970s and retired in 2000, noted that much of the equipment on display has been adopted after he left the service.
"We had the Humvees," he said. "That was about it."
Rodriguez was a signals officer, and he helped provide communications for U.S. troops during Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989 and for NATO peacekeeping forces in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s.
He said Humvees did not need the armor they have now, which is designed to protect troops patrolling Iraq and Afghanistan from hidden insurgent bombs.
"We were still training for the Cold War, so it was going to be one armored division versus another," Rodriguez said.
People could also see the weapons and equipment used by the post police department's Special Reaction Team and spend time with one of the department's dogs, a 6-year-old Belgian Malinois named Poker.
Sgt. Anthony Basi, one of the K-9 officers, said soldiers and civilians on the post "rarely get to see all of our assets."
Basi said the police department also has marine and wildlife enforcement units.
"We have, pretty much, every aspect covered, law enforcement-wise," he said.
Other Armed Forces Week celebrations earlier this week included a military retiree appreciation day, a golf tournament and the Armed Forces Run with APG soldiers.