San Diego Union Tribune: recruiting Hispanics?

[question everything]

[TomInTib]

1. Here ya go

Look out, South America, 'cause here comes the Cavalry.

DENVER — As Sgt. First Class Gavino Barron, dressed in a crisp Army uniform, trawls the Wal-Mart here for recruits, past stacks of pillows and towers of detergent, he is zeroing-in on one of the Army's "special missions": to increase the number of Hispanic enlisted soldiers.

He approaches a couple of sheepish looking teenage boys in the automotive aisle and seamlessly slides into Spanish, letting loose his pitch: "Have you ever thought about joining the Army?" "Did you know you can get up to $40,000 in bonuses?" "I'm from Mexico, too. Michoacán."

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Patriotism alone, though, does not account for the rise in Hispanic enlistment. The increase has gone
hand in hand with a vast Army marketing campaign that includes Spanish-language advertisements on Univision and Telemundo, the country's two largest Spanish-language networks, and on the radio and in Hispanic publications. The budget for this campaign has increased by at least $55 million in four years.

The Army has also expanded a small pilot project that allows 200 Latinos each year to undergo rigorous English language classes and then retake the Army qualifications tests. Ten cities now offer that option, up from five.

more at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/09/national/09recruit.ht...

[RagingInMiami]

2. They've been recruiting Hispanics for decades

This isn't anything new