With a weakening economy, owning a home or starting a business is getting tougher, but now the local branches of the U.S. Army are using a new program to help recruits do just that.

Local U.S. Army branches in New England are some of only a handful across the country that are testing a new program, called the Army Advantage Fund. It works by giving young men and women who enlist as much as $40,000 to put a down payment on a home or to start a new business. The Army hopes it will not only bring in more recruits, but help them once they get back into the working world.

Tyler Ritchie just signed up for three years of service with the Army. The 21-year-old from Westfield said he is going to start his own business once he comes back home.

"The pride of owning your own business, and making a good living for yourself, I'm sure anyone would want that," Ritchie said.

And he said joining the Army is bringing him closer to that goal. Tyler is currently studying Criminal Justice at Holyoke Community College. He said he is enlisting to serve his country, but hopes to take the $25,000 he will receive to follow in his father's footsteps when he comes home.

"Right now, I'm working with my dad, and he's a plumber, so, maybe something along those lines," he said.

But, before Tyler can get his money and become an entrepreneur, he must train and serve. The Army hopes that will give its new recruits some time to think wisely about their new investment.

"If you get a cash bonus when you start your time in service, most people are going to spend that fairly quickly. They're not going to keep that for down the road," said Sgt. Andrew Courville, who works as a recruiter and trainer at the Springfield Recruiting Station. "The way the Army Advantage Fund works, they can't spend that until they are ready to buy a house."

The program is being tested in the Albany, Cleveland, Montgomery, San Antonio, and Seattle markets. If it works locally, the Army plans to take the program all across the country.

For more information: http://www.armyadvantagefund.com/