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