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War doesn't deter military recruits
By MARCUS FRANKLIN The question, it seemed, was on everybody's mind. At least everybody at American Legion Post No. 7 in Clearwater this month for "family night," a get-together for nearly 50 boot-camp bound Marine recruits and their parents. After the crowd finished the Boston Market chicken, mashed potatoes and corn, and the recruits participated in mock drills outside the hall, a man voiced the question that seemed to nag at everyone. "He asked: 'Will these boys be shipped overseas (to Iraq) once they finish basic training?"' recalled Charlotte Arroyo, whose son Anthony Rodriguez is off to Parris Island, S.C., in July for boot camp. "The answer was no, they're not going to be ready. That was comforting." One week into the war with Iraq, military recruiters in the Tampa Bay area say anxiety among recruits, potential recruits and their parents has heightened. "It can be challenging," Marine Master Gunnery Sgt. Joe G. Reyes Jr. said Tuesday afternoon. Reyes, the recruiter instructor for Central Florida, spoke in the recruitment office on N 56th Street in Temple Terrace as a TV broadcast news about the war. "Situations like this are always going to affect decisions. Everybody's got concerns about what's going on. We're concerned, too. Buddies we've known for years are over there," he said. "But it's not bad enough that we don't recruit what we need." Other recruiters agree they are still meeting their goals, and it is too early to tell whether the war will affect enlistment numbers. The start of the war has prompted some former Marines to re-enlist. Some potential recruits "are waiting to see what happens with the situation (in Iraq) before making any commitment," said Marine Staff Sgt. D.A. Naeher, a recruiter at a strip mall on 58th Street N in St. Petersburg. Others, like Kenneth Magee, aren't wasting time. After concluding that community college and vocational school were not for him, the 19-year-old from Land O'Lakes signed up for the Army on March 20 -- the day after the war started. He leaves for two years of Special Forces Green Beret training in August. "There is a possibility you will be in a combat situation and that you may die in combat," said Magee, wearing a black Army T-shirt outside an Army recruiting station in Temple Terrace. "It's something you have to accept going into the military." Rodriguez, the Marine recruit, has a similar view. His fascination with the military began as a boy with the helicopters that flew near his family's home near a U.S. Coast Guard station in Puerto Rico. In September the 5-foot-9, 200-pound Dixie Hollins High School senior signed up for the Marine Corps' delayed entry program, in part because of the military's education incentives. "My grandpa and great-grandpa did it in World War I and World War II. I guess it's now my turn," he said sitting in the recruiting office. "The war hasn't set me back at all." Rodriguez's mother is another story. The 48-year-old's fears are reinforced with each report of U.S. military casualties. But it helps some to know the timetable of training isn't likely to have him in Iraq any time soon. Marine boot camp lasts three months, the longest of any military branch. Afterward there are 10 days of leave, followed by three weeks of Marine combat training and three to six months of occupational training. Then a Marine must be deemed qualified for deployment. Despite her fears, she supports her son. "As a mother I'm very nervous and scared for him," said Arroyo, adding that she prays for the families of troops fighting in Iraq. "As an American I'm very proud of his decision."
On the way home from family night, Arroyo and Rodriguez talked. "I asked my son, 'Are you sorry you made this decision?' He said, 'Nope, not at all."'
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