If you're a military recruiter, here's one possible upside to the flagging economy: plenty of potential new enlistees. The problem, according to one retired Navy recruitment official who now lives in Maine, is that many of them are either physically or academically unfit to serve. Several retired military officers appeared today at a Portland elementary school to speak in support of programs they believe are essential to assuring not only quality education for Maine students, but also the future security of the nation.

Retired Vice Adm. J.D. Williams, who now lives in Westport Island, is a former Commander of the Sixth Fleet who also headed up Navy recruiting in the early 1980s. He says he's learned from Navy colleagues that recruiting has been going well in the last few years, thanks in part to the struggling U.S. economy.

But Adm. Williams says that's not a sustainable strategy. "The truth is we cannot depend upon a poor economy to keep our country safe," he told reporters today at Riverside Elementary School in Portland, where he spoke on behalf of the national organization called "Mission Readiness: Military Leaders for Kids." "missionreadiness.org"

The group released a report that says an estimated 75 percent of Americans between the ages of 17 and 24 cannot join the military. There are several major disqualifying factors, such as being overweight or having a criminal record. But Williams says another major problem is lack of proper education.

"In Maine, 21 percent of high school students do not graduate on time, and without a high school diploma, it is virtually impossible to enlist," he said. "Even among our state's high school graduates, 19 percent seeking to enlist, cannot join for the low scores on the military's basic exam for math, literacy and problem solving."

Williams joined retired Maj. Gen. Thomas D. Kinley of Cape Elizabeth in calling for state, local and federal policy makers to support an expansion of early childhood education programs, such as Head Start. Kinley cited a Michigan study that found that students who attended preschool programs were three times as likely to be at a basic level of achievement or higher at age 14, and were 44 percent more likely to graduate from high school.

"A similar study of Chicago's child-parent centers found that participants in the high quality pre-kindergarten program were 29 percent more likely to have graduated from high school," Maj. Gen. Kinley said. "We need to put this knowledge into action."

In the city of Portland, Superintendent James Morse says a fifth of all students fail to graduate from high school. The short-term solution to that problem he says has been to try remediation programs in later grades.

"You work your tail off to try to help those kids make up for lost skills, and hope and pray that you've made the kind of remediation that gets them through high school," he says. "Sadly, our data isn't showing that's a working model. Pre-school is a working model. It's a long-term solution to a situation that many urban school systems across this country face."

Morse says Portland has committed itself to expanding its preschool programs, with a goal of doubling the number of four-year-olds served every year.

"We have at least 350 to 400 children who are aged four that we're trying to reach out to. This year, it'll be 60 to 70," Morse says. "If we can double that in another year, and then triple it from this year, we can reach our goal of universal pre-school for four year olds in the city of Portland, I believe, in three school years."

Morse says Portland is also looking at the so-called "Educare" program in Waterville, which provides day care for as many as 200 low-income children under the age of 5.

Mission Readiness has also been active in fighting obesity, which the group's Ryan Day says is a major issue in recruitment. More than a quarter of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 are ineligible to join the military because of their weight.

"What we advocate for is healthier food in schools, becuase children receive up to 40 percent of their daily calorie intake at school, with school lunch and breakfast programs," Day says. "And what we're working on right now is ensuring that school cafetaria workers have the training and equipment necessary to cook healthy meals for children."