Air Force recruiter: 'Every day is different'

link Tech Sgt. Mauricio Leon

If Tech Sgt. Mauricio Leon could go back more than 14 years to talk to himself, he’d tell himself this idea to go into the Air Force is the right one.

If he could find himself three months ago, before he started his new assignment in a military community, he’d just say to be ready for everything.

“Every day is different,” Leon said. “You have to be flexible.”

Leon has worked for the last three months as the Air Force’s recruiter in eastern New Mexico. He is based out of Clovis’ North Plains Mall, which was staffed by Lubbock-area recruiters for eight months following his predecessor’s departure.

Leon comes to Clovis from Moody Air Force Base near Valdosta, Georgia, where he was a security forces investigator. One day, his commanding officer recommended him for a recruiting position.

“If 14 years ago you told me I’d be able to do something like this, I’d think you were crazy,” Leon said. “I was a shy kid, never looking at people when I was talking to them.”

A transfer was worked out that coincided with a mission his wife Leticia received for Cannon Air Force Base. The couple has one son, Donovan.

The San Diego native said he did OK in high school, but not well enough to receive any type of scholarships. He took some community college classes and worked low-wage jobs, before realizing he couldn’t afford the education he needed.

He tries to keep himself, and how the Air Force helped him, in mind when he talks to young men and women today. He’ll tell them about his 14 years and eight deployments, and how each experience helped him. But he makes sure the Air Force is something they want to do, and not something he talked them into doing.

“You just try to tell them the opportunities the Air Force has for them,” Leon said. “If they come to the second meeting, that tells me (they’re interested).”

Some days, Leon finds himself so wrapped up in paperwork that he wouldn’t notice much outside the window of his office at North Plains Mall. Others, he notices every detail out of his car window as he’s driving to a small town.

As far as recruiting goes in a city with an Air Force Base, Leon said it helps because the average visitor has some grasp of Air Force operations.

Since Leon is early into his recruiting position, he’s not sure of when he’ll be busiest with particular duties. But he assumes he’ll see more faces in his office in the last few months of the high school year.

Regarding the recruitment offices for other branches of the armed services, Leon equated the relationship to being siblings. There’s a natural rivalry and you’ll find ways to poke fun at each other, but you’re always there to help each other when needed, he said.