Rural areas drive recruiting
DETROIT -- Michigan's military recruits come disproportionately from its rural areas as compared to urban areas, according to Pentagon records.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-15/1133198448222980.xml&coll=7
Monday, November 28, 2005
Associated Press
DETROIT -- Michigan's military recruits come disproportionately from its rural areas as compared to urban areas, according to Pentagon records.
In the state's 45 most rural counties -- those with 60 percent or more of their populations in rural areas -- about seven of every 1,000 young people ages 18 to 24 enlisted last year. In the state's most populous counties, about four of every 1,000 young adults signed up, according to Pentagon records obtained by an anti-war group.
``I think it tells us that young people with limited opportunities are more likely to join the armed forces,'' said Anita Bancs, research director for the National Priorities Project, a Massachusetts-based nonpartisan nonprofit that gives people information about how government works. ``If we're going to engage in war, we ought to know who the people are who volunteer, who are serving in the armed forces and who put themselves at risk.''
Bancs' group obtained the military records from Peacework Magazine, a branch of an anti-war Quaker organization, which had requested them from the military. The 2004 records do not include military officers, people who enlisted in the Marine Corps or members of the National Guard, who have been widely deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Last year, the area around North Branch, a village of about 1,000 people in Michigan's Thumb area north of Detroit, sent 30 recruits into the Air Force, Army and Navy, according to the records.
High school guidance counselors and principals in that area agreed that most enlisted for economic reasons.
``It's opportunity as much as anything else,'' said Carolyn Medford, a counselor at North Branch High School.
Most who enlist in Michigan end up in the Army, the recruiting records show.