After a morning workout and a short meeting about the day's assignments, 1st Sgt. Roberto Gallardo sets out to change people's lives in Madison.

He visits high schools, technical colleges and occasionally the University of Wisconsin to recruit young men and women for the U.S. Army. It's not an easy job, he said, especially on a campus like UW.

The campus is sometimes called "The Berkeley of the Midwest" for all of its anti-war and progressive roots. Violent riots headlined the news daily during the Vietnam War, and State Street may be considered the pulpit for modern Iraq war protesters.

Gallardo said during an interview Thursday in Der Rathskeller that his company's visits to UW are sometimes resisted by a "vocal, liberal minority." Some people get in his face and yell, but he said the situation never seems to get too confrontational.

Some campus organizations have mobilized against military recruiting efforts and occasionally distribute pamphlets near army tables at career fairs. Paul Pryse, a member of the UW Campus Antiwar Network, said he considers the absence of recruiters a victory for students.

"We try to poke holes in their argument that the army is a good career," Pryse said. "In the past, CAN has organized for recruiters to get off the campus entirely."

The organization tries to "make it tough for recruiters at this campus," he added. In September this year, CAN and other student groups mobilized against the weapons producer Halliburton at a career fair. A former army reservist in Madison was also the first Iraq war veteran to send his medals back to the State Department in late September of this year.

Gallardo admits the atmosphere at UW and throughout Madison is tough, but he respects the freedom of people to express their opinions about the military or the presence of army recruiters.

"We fight for that right, or at least the people before us did," he said.

The army recruiters come to UW about once a month, Gallardo said, but that infrequent presence is due more to the nature of college: People who attend college usually know what they want to do with their lives.

High schools or technical colleges are more worthwhile trips because recruiters can offer graduating seniors another career choice or financial aid.

The heaviest presence of the army at UW is usually during the beginning of the academic year, said Gallardo, when some freshmen might be looking for financial aid. The Madison-based army company also looks at freshmen ending their first year, because that population is statistically the most likely to drop out of college or leave UW for another reason.

Gallardo said he's personally put about 200 people into the army over the past seven years as a recruiter. He volunteered for the job after some combat experience as a medic because he wanted to try it out. The job seems to fit his outgoing and talkative character.

Gallardo said "recruiting is a lot more stressful" than his time as a medic was because there are few breaks throughout the year. A medic would get combat leave or training breaks, but Gallardo is talking to people about the army almost every day.

"I would never say recruiting is easy," he added.

There are 11 recruiters working for the U.S. Army in Madison and, in 2006, Gallardo said his company did fifth best out of 40 companies in an eight-state region. Recruiters are assigned a certain number of people to enlist each month — Gallardo said his best is six.

"This is more of a giving than a taking kind of job," he said. Gallardo approaches recruiting like he is giving people choices. The message of thanks people give him returning from duty is just one of the perks.

Correction: Due to a reporting error, this article should have called Halliburton an energy company, focused on petroleum.