First, they said it outright. “The Youth Army is cool!” shouted Liza, one of the young women members acting as master of ceremonies.

Second, events started off in the morning with a D.J., who played an amped-up version of old patriotic Russian tunes, adding scratching and other techniques from hip-hop music.

The D.J. was followed by a battery of bubble gum pop bands strutting in outfits like gold lamé miniskirts and belting out tunes at 11 a.m. Some Youth Army members rolled their eyes at the choice of music, and suggested that the army was run by a bunch of potbellied generals who probably thought the kids would find the bands cool.

Third, the event offered access to all kinds of activities that the youths might not get to do otherwise — handling a gun, training dogs, using a 3-D printer and driving a virtual tank.

Sergei K. Shoigu, the defense minister, has been especially vocal about the importance of the organization in creating a bond between Russia’s young and its armed forces. The event came barely a week before Mr. Putin made his own bellicose speech, vowing to restore Russia to superpower status in intercontinental weaponry.