ARMY PRIVATES RECRUIT ON HOMETOWN LEVEL.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

``Most of the girls are scared. They think they can't do it, that they're not physically strong enough. But you get strong. Either you do or they break you.''

- Army Pvt. Reyna Gomez

They walk the hallways of San Fernando High School and last week passed stores in the Northridge Fashion Center, looking for a few good kids.

Kids just like them only a few months before. High school seniors getting ready to graduate and not quite sure what happens next.

They had not come from families where mom and dad could afford to pay for college, and the only jobs the kids had a legitimate shot at didn't pay nearly enough for them to move out and start a life on their own.

So, they joined the Army - signed up for three years and the gold ring the Army promised them at the end of their enlistment - $19,000 for education.

It's a ticket to college for Reyna Gomez, Jose Nunez, Francisco Javier Chavez, Franklin Figueroa and the Moro twins, Eric and Andy.

All are 1999 graduates of San Fernando High School, except for Figueroa who graduated last year from Chatsworth High.

They've all completed their basic and advanced training and are back in their community for a month of hometown recruiting.

The Army's young evangelists go back to their old high school and the mall where all the kids hang out, looking for a few good ones who may want the same educational opportunity.

Gomez walks away from a group of girls at San Fernando High feeling pretty good, feeling like maybe she saw a spark of interest in the eyes of a few of them.

They had all been so excited to see her again, anxious to know what it's like for a woman in the Army today. Must be pretty hard, right?

Yeah, it's hard, Gomez tells them, but not any harder for a female because women are emotionally stronger than men, right? Everybody knows that.

And the physical thing? Don't worry about it. If you're not strong enough going in, you'll soon be. The drill sergeants make sure of that.

Down the hall, Nunez is telling a group of male seniors the same thing, telling them how in three years he'll have $19,000 in the bank for college and a shot at his dream to someday be a broadcaster.

Like Gomez, he walks away from the group feeling pretty good, feeling he saw a spark of interest in some eyes, too.

``Some kids look at us like we're crazy, but most of them are listening,'' Gomez says. ``They want the same thing we wanted as seniors only a few months ago. A chance at college.''

By the end of the day, three graduating seniors from San Fernando High will have walked into the office of Sgt. Daina Lewis, commander of the Sylmar Recruiting Station, to start the paperwork to join the Army.

Half a dozen more stopped by to say they were seriously thinking about it. Could they have some more information?

Lewis isn't fooling herself about why. The Army's young evangelists - the hometown recruits - are doing their job.

``I'm 37. It's hard for high school seniors to relate to me,'' Lewis says. ``But they trust these kids most have known most of their lives when the kids tell them what the recruiter is saying is not a lie.''

Since June's high school graduations, her recruiting station has sent 25 kids from Sylmar, San Fernando, Pacoima and Granada Hills into the Army. Very good numbers for any recruiting station, Lewis said.

``The hometown recruiting program helps us touch these kids,'' she added. ``They can relate to kids who were last year's seniors, now coming home in an Army uniform.''

Gomez stands inside the Northridge mall talking to a group of girls she knew from school last year.

``Is it hard being in the Army?'' one of the girls wants to know.

``Yeah, it's hard, but it's also very gratifying when you accomplish something you didn't think you could do,'' Gomez says.

``Do they treat you differently than the men?'' another asks.

Gomez smiles. Not really, she says, but it's tougher for the men because they're not as emotionally strong as we are.

The girls laugh. They say it was good seeing her again. A couple of them take a long look at her uniform, a definite spark of interest in their eyes.

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Photo

Photo: From left, Franklin Figueroa, Jose Nunez, Reyna Gomez, Francisco Javier Chavez, and twins Eric and Andy Moro have been assigned to Sylmar's Armed Forces Recruiting Center for a month of hometown recruiting.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer