South leads for military recruits
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Minneapolis Star-Tribune
MARK BRUNSWICK
07/03/2010
For the past three years, Mankato has been the epicenter of military recruitment in the state. Nearly everyone you talk to attributes the high rates to a struggling economy, and Mankato epitomizes an area where opportunities might be limited. There may be a little of the ol' Midwest work ethic attached to the numbers as well, experts say.But the national numbers for military recruitment show a different story.The National Priorities Project, a Boston-based group that analyzes federal data, routinely studies military recruitment rates across the country. Its most recent research, based on Army data, shows that the South by far leads the nation in military recruitment for any region. In 2007, the South represented 45.8 percent of all Army recruits. In 2008, it represented 46.4 percent. The Midwest and the West both came in at around 20 percent for both years. The Northeast followed at 12 percent. Some other information gleaned from the database:• A higher percentages of white recruits come from non-metro counties than metro counties, but a higher percentages of black recruits come from metro counties than non-metro counties. A higher percentages of Hispanic recruits come from metro counties than non-metro counties.• Across the board (white, black, Hispanic), recruitment rates are higher in non-metro (rural) counties than metro counties.• The recruitment rate for black youths in non-metro counties has increased in all three years, unlike any other rate.• The South has had the highest percentage of Army recruits for the past two years.• Northeast and Midwest recruitment rates fell.• South and West recruitment rates increased.In 2009, for the first time in the history of the all-volunteer military, all branches reached their goals for numbers and quality of enlistees, even though only three out of 10 American youth ages 17 to 24 meet the current qualifications.
