Michael Tomsic

The weak economy may be bad for most Americans, but it's good for military recruiting. Since the recession began in 2007, there's been a steady increase in the number of college graduates joining the armed forces — including some who never imagined themselves in uniform.

Here's a statistic that may surprise you: More than half of all schools in the U.S. don't have a full-time nurse. Cutbacks due to the recession and other reasons are forcing districts to scale back. In some cases, students' health needs fall to teachers and other school staff.