BEND, Ore. -- The military recruiting station near the Bend River Promenade should not be confused with the hustle and bustle of a department store on Black Friday.

But the U.S. Army, the largest branch of the armed forces, is seeing more traffic at its office these days than when the economy was humming and violence in Iraq was peaking.

Helped by declining violence in Iraq and an economic downturn that has driven up the Central Oregon jobless rate, Army recruiters appear now to be ahead of their recruitment goals.

"We had a hard time throughout Oregon and California" before the downturn, says Charles Glenn, a civilian advertising and public affairs specialist for the Army's Portland Recruiting Battalion.

"Command as a whole has been making their (recruiting quotas) pretty regularly. But it was certainly much more difficult a year or two ago than it is now."

Bend recruiters have signed up 17 Central Oregonians to the regular Army or Army Reserves during the last two months, meeting their quotas each month, Glenn says.

And the Portland Battalion will likely meet its quarterly recruitment goals well before the quarter ends, Glenn adds.

It should not be a surprise. The military historically has had an easier time recruiting in times of recession.

"Things have been improving gradually since last summer," Glenn says. "There are two schools of thought about that, but generally the one that seems to be the most accurate, year in and year out, is that the economy really is the driving force behind it. We generally do better in times when ... the economy is in this kind of state. The more options people have, the more chance that they are going to do something else."

Glenn also credits the Army's marketing efforts. The Army has put a heavy emphasis on job training it offers, which is applicable to more than 150 career routes.

Job training is what interested Lane Tucker, a 19-year-old from Redmond who graduated from Redmond High School in 2007.

Tucker, a criminal justice major at Central Oregon Community College, is seriously considering joining the military because it will help him pay for college when he has finished his military service and help train him for his planned law enforcement career.

Through the military's GI Bill, a veteran can receive money for tuition and fees up to the most expensive in-state public university, a monthly housing allowance, as well as money for books and supplies. How much depends on how long a veteran served in the military. But if someone serves at least three years, the military covers 100 percent of all expenses.

"(Enlisting) has always been in the back of my mind," Tucker said. "But when I found out how much it helps in becoming a law enforcement officer, I made the decision to explore my options in the military."

The local recruiters for the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy have had an easier time than the Army making their goals in recent years.

The U.S. Marine Corps' Portland Recruiting Station, which includes Bend, has met its recruiting goals for 130 consecutive months, says Marine spokesman Sgt. Chris Berryman.

"We have not yet (seen a boost in recruiting) at this level, but (a boost is) what is being reported from the Pentagon level," says Berryman, adding that because the Marines count only recruits who pass boot camp, their recruitment data tend to lag by about three months. "We've been meeting our quotas for quite a long time, so the downturn hasn't really affected us at this level," he said.

The Navy has reached its nationwide recruiting goals every year since 2000, says Elizabeth Allen, a public affairs officer for the Navy Recruiting District Portland.

But Allen says the Navy has seen an uptick in Central Oregon.

"Our recruiting numbers in Central Oregon have shown a slow, steady rise over the last year, but in Oregon as a whole, they have stayed basically the same," Allen says.

Bend's Air Force recruiters could not be reached for comment.

Recruiters expect to be selective about the potential recruits they accept.

The Army, for example, wants people who have passed a physical test, meet certain moral requirements, score well on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery -- a test every military recruit must take, have no criminal convictions and have earned a high school diploma.

"It's not just number of recruits but reaching its number of high-quality enlistees," Glenn says. "Those are the guys and girls we are going after, first and foremost. And right now, this battalion is on track to meet our mission for the quarter before we get to the end of the quarter. We are doing quite well."

Enlisted members of the military earn base salaries between $1,246 per month to start (Army privates, and Air Force E-1s) and nearly $1,600 for an Army private first class. And all four major branches have allowances for room and board, and medical benefits are not included in those base salaries.

But with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military can still be a dangerous way to make a living.

That's why the Army has stepped up its efforts to include family members in the decision-making process, says Maj. Michael Firmin of the Portland Army Recruiting Battalion.

"We want to make sure that parents understand the decision that their young adult is making," Firmin says. "That is what we are really focused on. The Army is a big decision. We offer the career training and everything else, but we want to make sure that families are involved in the process."