SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND THE MIDEAST CRISIS : All’s Quiet on the Local Recruiting Front

Rick Lopez and Ed Opferman were waiting outside the Los Angeles armed services recruitment headquarters Friday to take a four-hour aptitude exam so they could enlist in the Army.

But they had already passed their biggest test: fear of being pressed into service in the Mideast as part of the continuing crisis triggered by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

“I’m ready to go fight for my country,” said Lopez, 21, of Cerritos. “I’ve been following what’s going on over there. We need to stop that guy.”

Said Opferman, 26, of Costa Mesa: “Part of the reason I’m joining is because of the Middle East. I’ll go if I’m sent.”

Military recruiters scattered across Los Angeles said Friday that the growing Mideast conflict has led to a flurry of activity and phone calls. But they are finding that not everyone who telephones or drops in wants to join up.

The long-haired ex-soldier sporting a ring in one ear who stopped by Sgt. 1st Class Michael Chaffin’s office wanted to know if his standby reserve unit had been activated. He was visibly relieved when Chaffin said it had not.

“We are getting calls from parents calling who want to know if the draft has been started up again,” said Chaffin, who is assigned to the Army’s Hollywood recruiting office. They are happy when they are told that it has not.

At the Navy recruiting office next door, Petty Officer 1st Class Joel O. Gonzales said a 65-year-old pharmacist who telephoned Thursday to volunteer for Mideast duty was disappointed by the suggestion that he become a hospital volunteer instead.

Other than that, however, “I haven’t seen anybody who is saying, ‘I want to go! I want to go!’ They’re looking at things like benefits when they come in here to talk,” Gonzales said.

Gunnery Sgt. Bob Torres said Marine Corps recruiters have not noticed any change in enlistment patterns because of the Mideast crisis. “Of course, if something should happen tomorrow, that could spur something like World War II, when everybody wanted to join the service,” Torres said.

Maj. Don Fincher, who heads Air Force recruiting activities in the Los Angeles area, said it is also business as usual with his recruiters. He said the local Air Force office, which generally processes about 90 recruits a month, is still handling volunteers who signed up before the Iraqi crisis began unfolding earlier this month.

“It’s hard to say if a surge of patriotism will send people flocking to recruiting centers . . . but we’re not holding our breath,” said Lt. Col. Alexander Angelle, chief spokesman for the Army recruiting command center at Ft. Sheridan, Ill.

At the Army’s Hollywood office, new recruit Angel Ramos, 19, of Los Angeles said he has planned for three years to enlist. “Iraq doesn’t bother me. But it bothers my parents. They think I’m crazy,” he said.

But at the military recruitment headquarters on Rodeo Road in Los Angeles, Jason Pierson, 21, said his family is pleased that he decided on a military career. “Everybody, my parents, my grandparents, my fiancee, know I like to pull my own weight,” said Pierson, a Palmdale resident.

With that, he raised his hand, repeated the oath of enlistment and joined the Air Force.