SOUTHERN ILLINOIS - Faced with a "war on terror" and numerous overseas operations, U.S. military recruiters find they need to offer a little more than the basic college tuition package to get soldiers these days.

Not that willing and able bodies aren't signing up for the military, recruiters say. In Southern Illinois, Staff Sgt. Graham Young, with the local Army National Guard in Carbondale, says he is still recruiting an average of three or four people into service each month.

That is normal, Young said. But nationally the recruiting season has been slow. National Guard officials say they are 24 percent behind in numbers this year, while the Army Reserve reports they are 10 percent behind schedule.

The stall has prompted officials to raise the maximum recruitment age from 35 to 39 and increase some of the benefits given to new recruits. The youngest age a person can sign up for military service is still 17.

Young said he hasn't seen anything official on the changes to age requirements or benefits, but business continues as usual in his office.

"The reasons are still the same for people wanting to join," Young said. "They are looking for college money; and I think people still want to serve their country."

Young said college freshman and sophomores are generally the most open to signing on for military service. Some are looking for career

opportunities in the local area, he said,

and some jobs are designed to send recruits on a "fast track" out of Southern Illinois.

The relatively new caveat with military service today is recruits are more likely to be called into a conflict, given the current global climate. Young said people might be scared, but it doesn't stop them from joining.

"What I've found, most everybody joins the military because they want to serve our country," Young said.

Capt. Greg Robertson, commander of the Cape Girardeau, Mo. Recruiting Company, which also oversees U.S. Army Reserve recruiting in the southwestern portion of Illinois, said he believes volunteerism makes the best military makeup.

"Just like anybody in any business, the best soldier is one who is self-motivated," Robertson said.

However, Robertson said the military isn't just looking for people blinded by patriotism. They want a thinking soldier, because the jobs require more skill than ever before.

"One of the things about the army, we're not just looking for people to pick up a weapon and fight," he said.

Soldiers will train in self-defense, but Robertson said the military is stressing education heavily to help recruits with some of the high-skill jobs needed in the service.

Joshua Childers, 18, of Johnston City said before he was permitted to join military service he had to complete a six-month basic post-secondary education course. Now, he is two months away from deployment in Iraq.

Childers' older brother, Jeremy, recently returned home from Iraq after more than a year tour in the war-torn country.

Childers hardly needs convincing the military is the right course in life for him.

"I just want to serve my country and do something good in life, not just sit around," he said. "I really don't have anything in my life but the military."

Childers' family, from his siblings to his late father, served in the military. He said most of his friends have already joined the ranks.

He said he sees himself in a 20-year career in the armed forces.

Childers said reservations about fighting don't necessarily frighten him away from service, and he said the opportunities he'll find in the service will bring him success much quicker than he could find taking the traditional path in education.

caleb.hale@;thesouthern.com

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