As many job hunters face a wobbly economy, military recruitment is creeping upward.
Ted Jones, spokesman for the Jacksonville Army Recruiting Battalion, said the north Florida and south Georgia area where the group recruits has shown a slight increase.
Jones said recruitment numbers increase every time the economy begins to decline.
"We don't like a bad economy," he said. "But it's just the way things have played out."
Other reasons for joining the military have stayed relatively the same, he said, such as a strong sense of patriotism, training in fields such as engineering and mechanical maintenance, and getting money for college.
"We get a lot of people who come to us who are looking to get those loans paid off," he said.He also said a potential exit strategy to the Iraq war, proposed by President-elect Barack Obama, might be an enticing factor for young people to enlist.
"We've got a lot more positive news coming out of Iraq," he said. "The situation there has certainly improved."
Local army recruitment has also seen an increase through its last fiscal year, though Sgt. First Class James Dowdy said he's unsure why.
Dowdy, who works at the U.S. Armed Forces Recruitment Center in Butler Plaza, said there has been a 23 percent increase in enlistment since the last fiscal year, which ended in October 2007.
Local ROTC programs have seen a huge increase in numbers, but one official said he doesn't think it's the poor economy.
Lt. Col. Michael Rosamond, professor of military science for the UF Army ROTC, said the program has seen a 40 percent increase in students joining the class, which he attributes to publicity about the class and word of mouth.
Rosamond said the reason so many have joined the class couldn't be the economy because the increase was noticed in August, before the economic downturn.
"Everyone thinks that once the economy goes bad, people flock to the military," he said. "It has nothing to do with the economy."
One student said money is the main reason he enlisted.
Santa Fe College nursing student John Palmer, 18, said he had never considered joining the military until he turned 18 and had to face monetary problems.
Palmer said many of his friends are also enlisting so the military can pay for school and give them jobs.
He said he wants to finish his degree as soon as he is done serving in the Air Force, but first, he needs the service for the money.
"It's a lack of choices," Palmer said.
