[Peace-discuss] Counter-recruitment in the 15th IL CD

[C. G. Estabrook]

  Chicago Tribune
  Army recruiters thrive Downstate
  By E.A. Torriero
  Tribune staff reporter
  Published November 28, 2005

WARRENSBURG, Ill -- This is U.S. Army country, where even in
the leanest of recruiting years, even in a time of war, young
people step out of farms and tiny towns of rural America to
enlist.

Nationally, rising anti-war sentiment and news of mounting
casualties in Iraq led this year to the most dismal Army
recruiting season since 1979.

But in the expanses of the Midwest, the downturn has been much
less than in other places.

In dozens of sparsely populated Illinois counties--places with
some of the state's highest poverty rates--an average of
nearly one in 10 young people joins the military.

That's more than twice the rate nationwide and makes Downstate
Illinois one of the prime recruiting grounds in the country....

complete story at
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0511280096nov28,1,4079302.story?ctrack=1&cset=true