From books to boot camp: Dearth of job opportunities prompts more college graduates to join military

The Boston Globe reports:

Though he’d always considered military service, Patrick Logan firmly believed a bachelor’s degree was his ticket to middle-class success. A friend enlisted in the Army after high school, Logan said, “because he felt like he didn’t have anything else to do.’’ Logan was determined to create a better choice for himself.

Then the economy collapsed in 2008, just months after Logan got his degree in criminal justice from Westfield State College.

“I applied for probably a couple hundred jobs with only about two or three interviews,’’ said Logan, 23. “At first I thought I must be applying for the wrong jobs. But then I was applying for minimum-wage jobs and not even getting interviews. That kind of brought me back to the Army.’’

Logan, who enlisted in November, is part of a growing trend of college-educated young men and women signing up for military service to jump-start their careers, serve their country - and avoid the unemployment line, even if there is a good chance they will end up in a war zone.

The number of new recruits who hold bachelor’s degrees jumped by nearly 17 percent last year, from about 5,400 in 2008 to more than 6,400 for the armed services, Pentagon statistics show. The number of enlistees with associate’s degrees from community colleges also increased, though more modestly, from roughly 2,380 to just over 2,570. The number of recruits with four- and two-year degrees represents 5.2 percent of the total 2009 military recruitment of 168,000.

An article well worth your time.