The Baton Rouge Recruiting Battalion’s mission is to conduct recruiting operations with integrity in our assigned area of responsibility to meet combined Regular Army, Army Reserve, and Special Mission requirements. The field recruiting force is responsible for enlisting quality Soldiers and processing them through the 4 Military Enlistment Processing Stations (MEPS) in Shreveport, Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana, Memphis, Tennessee, and Jackson, Mississippi.
The battalion is comprised of a 254 member Active Army and Army Reserve recruiter field force. The battalion is divided into eight recruiting companies: Booneville Company, Jackson Company, Memphis Company, Baton Rouge Company, New Orleans Company, Hattiesburg Company, Lafayette Company, and Shreveport Company.
The battalion headquarters located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is responsible for performing managerial, administrative, operational, promotional, and logistical functions necessary to operate and support the existing recruiter field force.
The Baton Rouge Recruiting Battalion receives guidance and directives from the 2nd U.S. Army Recruiting Brigade (Southeast), located at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, and from the U.S. Army Recruiting Command in Fort Knox, Kentucky.
History
On October 1, 2007, the New Orleans Recruiting Battalion joined forces with the Jackson Recruiting Battalion and became the Baton Rouge Recruiting Battalion, as a result of the United States Army Recruiting Command’s transformation initiative.
The “Gator” mascot of New Orleans and the “Grizzly” mascot of Jackson were retired and replaced with the “Rattler.”
The combining of these two areas was not unprecedented. More than 35 years ago, Jackson was a recruiting area in what was then the New Orleans Recruiting Main Station and remained there until 1972. With the advent of the all-volunteer military, Jackson became a district recruiting command and found its own identity.
Meanwhile, New Orleans Battalion continued to operate at its headquarters near the French Quarter at the U.S. Customs building before it moved to the Naval Support Activity, East Bank, where it remained until August 29, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast.
The New Orleans Battalion evacuated to Fort Polk, Louisiana and remained there for 11 months while the new headquarters at Perkins Rowe was being built in Baton Rouge.
The Baton Rouge Battalion now stretches from the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts northward to parts of western Tennessee, including Memphis. It covers 103,874 square miles and is comprised of 45 recruiting centers and eight recruiting companies.
The Baton Rouge Recruiting Battalion has 263 recruiters, military and civilian staff working in the field to recruit the best and brightest Future Soldiers for the Army.