The Chicago Tribune ? Hours after another U.S. soldier was killed Saturday, hundreds of former Iraqi soldiers and other men jammed enlistment centers across the country as the U.S.-led coalition began taking applications for the first recruits for a new Iraqi army.

With hundreds of thousands of former soldiers out of work since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, competition is tough for the 775 slots in Iraq’s first new battalion, which will begin training under U.S. contractors in early August.

Within two years, coalition officials hope to have nearly 30 battalions in place as “the seed of the future army,” said Brig. Jonathan Riley, a British deputy commander for military assistance in Iraq.

A soldier of the U.S. 1st Armored Division was killed in a rifle and rocket-propelled grenade attack early Saturday as he guarded a bank in western Baghdad. But Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition forces in Iraq, emphasized that the U.S.-led coalition was “learning from every engagement in order to be able to defeat the enemy.

“We are winning this war,” Sanchez said, despite continuing ambushes that have pushed the number of U.S. dead in enemy attacks to 149 since the start of hostilities in March.

Recruiting for Iraq’s new army, meanwhile, began at three enlistment centers across the country, in Baghdad, Basra and Mosul. More than 300 potential recruits had registered by the end of the day. In Baghdad, recruiters ran out of applications by 2 p.m.

Under rules of new enlistment, former soldiers accepted for training will be stripped of rank and enter the army as the equivalent of privates, Riley said, though some may later be promoted. Elite soldiers of the previous regime and top Baath Party officials will be excluded.

Enlistees initially will receive $60 a month, be outfitted with light arms and will take over the country’s border patrol, checkpoints and eventually other tasks.

Some of Iraq’s former officers and higher-ranking soldiers have taken exception to being demoted to join the new army.

“I deserve my position. I worked hard and went to school. Now I will start from zero. That’s not fair,” said Maj. Adnan Khalaf, 34, an Air Force engineer who was among those applying for an army job in Baghdad.

But many of the potential enlistees said they were happy that Iraqi’s huge former army was being wholly reconstructed rather than simply rehired.

“This is a very good thing,” said Abdullah Ali Hussein, 38, a former Army sergeant. Before “we had high-ranking officers who didn’t deserve their posts,” often men appointed by Saddam who in turn favored relatives and neighbors in promotions.

Enlistees also said they were glad to see conscription — Iraq’s long-standing draft — come to an end.

Adel Shaalan, 28, a mechanic from Kut, stood in line to enlist in Baghdad. He said he had fled his three-year required army service in 1994, and had since been hiding from the regime’s intelligence officers.

“George Bush released me,” he said. “Now I’m volunteering. There’s a big different between that and being forced. Whatever it will be, it will be better than before.”

Arabic-language recruitment posters passed around Baghdad neighborhoods in recent days show crossed U.S. and Iraqi flags and soldiers involved in health, construction and security operations.

“You are the Future,” the text reads, below a photo of a U.S. soldier with his arm around an Iraqi fighter.

Coalition officials hope to recruit a new force that is representative of the country in terms of religion, region and ethnicity. Women will be excluded in initial recruiting; coalition officials said their eventual participation would be up to the next Iraqi government.

Training of Iraq’s new army has been contracted to Vinnell Corp., a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman based in Reston, Va.

Coalition military officials said the training work, undertaken by coalition troops in Afghanistan, was farmed out because U.S. troops in Iraq are spread too thin.