"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Youths in Rural U.S. Are Drawn To Military
Recruits' Job Worries Outweigh War Fears

By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 4, 2005; A01

As sustained combat in Iraq makes it harder than ever to fill the ranks of
the all-volunteer force, newly released Pentagon demographic data show
that the military is leaning heavily for recruits on economically
depressed, rural areas where youths' need for jobs may outweigh the risks
of going to war.

More than 44 percent of U.S. military recruits come from rural areas,
Pentagon figures show. In contrast, 14 percent come from major cities.
Youths living in the most sparsely populated Zip codes are 22 percent more
likely to join the Army, with an opposite trend in cities. Regionally,
most enlistees come from the South (40 percent) and West (24 percent).

Many of today's recruits are financially strapped, with nearly half coming
from lower-middle-class to poor households, according to new Pentagon data
based on Zip codes and census estimates of mean household income. Nearly
two-thirds of Army recruits in 2004 came from counties in which median
household income is below the U.S. median.

Such patterns are pronounced in such counties as Martinsville, Va., that
supply the greatest number of enlistees in proportion to their youth
populations. All of the Army's top 20 counties for recruiting had
lower-than-national median incomes, 12 had higher poverty rates, and 16
were non-metropolitan, according to the National Priorities Project, a
nonpartisan research group that analyzed 2004 recruiting data by Zip code.

"A lot of the high recruitment rates are in areas where there is not as
much economic opportunity for young people," said Anita Dancs, research
director for the NPP, based in Northampton, Mass.
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How can this be, in this wonderful Bush economy?
No jobs but the military.


Ummmm. Because they don't live where the jobs are.

"More than 44 percent of U.S. military recruits come from rural areas"