Guys, most people in the US military are there because they didn’t really have a choice. It might have been their only chance at an education or they were dirt poor and this was the only career available that didn’t involve dealing drugs.
It’s why the government likes to keep people destitute and keep higher education expensive. Fodder for the military.
Actually, it seems that for most service members joining the military is one of several potential choices, and they simply weighed it as the best one for a handful of top reasons: Opportunity for career advancement, financial stability, having a family member already in the military, student financial support incentives, and moral / patriotic reasons. It’s a popular myth that a large portion service members are there for lack of any practical alternative, in fact very few are. The DoD recruitment budget (Marketing campaign) is over $4 Billion annually last I checked, for the good reason that most recruits have to be convinced.
It might have been their only chance at an education or they were dirt poor and this was the only career available that didn’t involve dealing drugs.
That’s really a myth. Most of the military come from middle and upper middle classes, and those growing up in lower income households are underrepresented compared to the general population.
You always really have a choice to join the military or not. When you don’t have a choice at all it’s called a draft.
Sometimes it seems like an easy choice to get out of a bad situation, and it appeals to people who don’t understand that consequences can happen to them.
Guys, most people in the US military are there because they didn’t really have a choice. It might have been their only chance at an education or they were dirt poor and this was the only career available that didn’t involve dealing drugs.
It’s why the government likes to keep people destitute and keep higher education expensive. Fodder for the military.
Actually, it seems that for most service members joining the military is one of several potential choices, and they simply weighed it as the best one for a handful of top reasons: Opportunity for career advancement, financial stability, having a family member already in the military, student financial support incentives, and moral / patriotic reasons. It’s a popular myth that a large portion service members are there for lack of any practical alternative, in fact very few are. The DoD recruitment budget (Marketing campaign) is over $4 Billion annually last I checked, for the good reason that most recruits have to be convinced.
https://worldmetrics.org/reasons-for-joining-the-military-statistics/#b-7-data-sources
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0095327X251399177
https://docs.opa.mil/opa.mil-production1/reports/futures_surveys/YP60Fall2024PUBLICRELEASEPropensityUpdate_20250623_Briefing.pdf
That’s really a myth. Most of the military come from middle and upper middle classes, and those growing up in lower income households are underrepresented compared to the general population.
Unless I’m mistaken, didn’t a significant percentage of military personnel vote for Trump?
You always really have a choice to join the military or not. When you don’t have a choice at all it’s called a draft.
Sometimes it seems like an easy choice to get out of a bad situation, and it appeals to people who don’t understand that consequences can happen to them.
That’s why it’s often referred to as a “poverty draft”
The facts don’t support your feelings.