Why Do People Join the U.S. Military?

Very seriously doubt that anyone is getting breast implants.  When I was in, I wanted to get my teeth straightened – something I wasn’t able to afford as a civilian.  They told me unless my teeth were hurting they couldn’t help me.

Most people I knew joined the military because they didn’t know what they wanted to do with their lives — me included.  No use spending tens of thousands of dollars on a degree when you’re not sure about your life’s calling.  After my 5 years stint in the service, I have been all over Southeast Asia, found my true calling in life, and left with a sizable savings.  Regretfully, a lot of people don’t have as good of an experience.

In the past few years for sure economy was a big motivator for many people joining the military.  That’s why there were older people choosing to enlist in the Army, people in their late 30′s and early 40′s.  People were starting to lose their jobs, including people reaching middle age.  With a bad economy and no job prospects, earning a steady paycheck, along with healthcare and other benefits for your family, sounded appealing.  This was when the Army raised the maximum age limit for first time enlistees to 42 years of age (this year that limit was changed and reverted back to how it was in the mid 2000′s, to 35 years of age maximum).  That’s they the military had a huge boom in recruiting the past few years and they were able to pick and choose and be more selective, especially with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan winding down.

Ishihara has a valid point regarding the poor fighting the wars of the rich, but the military is also one of the best opportunities for class mobility in the United States. How else can an inner-city minority on the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder advance his station in life? After graduating from some shitty, crime-filled downtown High School, how is he even supposed to find a job? After only 4 years in the military, our rhetorical young man is 10x more hireable than before his enlistment; he has workplace and leadership experience, technical training, and possibly an Associates degree (not always possible, but university courses are offered even in Afghanistan/Iraq). Even if he gets out and can’t find a job, the military will pay for his college, textbooks AND cost-of-living (rent, utilities, etc) so that he can complete a bachelors degree on the government’s dime. I don’t want to be too much of a cheerleader for the military, but the benefits are absolutely incredible; the poor are probably disproportionately represented amongst its enlisted ranks, but it’s hard to argue that anybody is being exploited when the military provides what may be their only chance to reach equal footing with middle/upper-class America. 

I joined because it’s a great, challenging entry-level job with technical training. Once you get through the military, just about any other job feels easy. The salary sucks, which is why there are so many perks to offset that. Plus all that “be part of something bigger” works on many people. Would you rather repair F-15 engines, or repair the windmill at Wally’s Putt-Putt Mini Golf while living in your parents’ garage loft?
The college tuition thing is big, too. But that’s not just the “poor”. ROTC is basically a program that allows non-rich kids (including middle class who are too “rich”, or white, or male to get financial aid) to go to top level schools, except at those schools which don’t allow ROTC (yet usually claim to promote “diversity”)

“Exploiting the poor and the weak” from the Fortunate Son of a politician?! Nah, that NEVER happens in Japan (recruiting the homeless as Fukushima temp workers, cough cough, slave labor foreign “trainees” ahem, the huge percentage of Japanese part-time/temp employees with shit salaries and no perks.. cough, dang these things won’t stop, foreign nurses training program designed such that 98% of them fail and get sent home.. need I go on?)
Christ, at least the military gives full pay and benefits. Is that “exploitation”?

A secondary benefit of the system is the USA gets a large pool of skilled people in their late 20s and 30′s looking for work, and employers are used to it.
Thus less age discrimination than in Japan, where big companies will rarely hire anyone over 25 as　正社員 and even shit jobs won’t even look at applications from people over 35 or 39 – even though age discrimination is “illegal” here.

Even though I do like how he trolls people, color me not shocked that Mr. Japanese Nationalism Ishihara didn’t push his son to enter the JSDF. =3

I think it depends on your point of view. As another poster has said, just about any employment has perks. If you work at a food chain, you get discounts or free food, etc. If you work for an airline, you get discounted or free flights.

The first perk, college tuition, is obvious. I think the military probably wants smarter people. I think they pay for tuition (there are limits) as an incentive so that people will study and become smarter, therefore becoming a better asset. They probably did the math and figured it’s worth the money invested. Not only that, certain forms of education, degrees, etc. for certain personnel will aid in promotion. I don’t think it really would be fair to have to pay out of your own pocket to get promoted. Certain people need that extra college education to be promoted.

As far as I know, the second claim about obtaining citizenship is true, to an extent. There are limits, conditions, etc. to get it, obviously. Last I checked, you have to be a permanent resident (green card) to join the military. By that point, you’re practically already a citizen, you just have to wait 5 years, take a minor test, and you’re a citizen. So I think it’s a very small perk depending on how you look at it. Plus, I think it would be weird to have someone serve in the military and not be a citizen at the same time. Now, there have been cases of recruitment of foreign nationals for specific needs, such as a critical language, but I don’t know the specific details on that.

The free military travel for vacations if true from what I hear. However, the way I understand it is that it’s space as available. It’s called “Space A”[available]. This basically means, from what I’m told, that IF there is a flight going from where you are and where you want to go, they put you on a waiting list. And IF there is EXTRA room on that flight, they let you on for free, because they’re flying there anyway, why waste extra space? I doubt the weight of a few persons and their luggage can have dramatic differences in cost of fuel. So, depending on where you are and where you want to go, Space A isn’t a viable option to travel. You might be waiting at the terminal for days for a free seat, and you have to repeat it on the trip back. It all depends on where though, as I imagine places like Hawaii have much more flights going in and out compared to the mainland.

I have never heard of anyone getting breast implants… From what I know and being at the hospital, everything has to be approved and everything has to be signed off by someone high ranking, especially surgery. The basic rule is, that if it’s not necessary, needed, or life threatening, you’re not getting it. For example, a prosthetic leg and the surgery for it will probably be approved with ease. Breast implants? what reason would someone possibly have, and get approved to get something like that done while serving in the military? As another poster has mentioned, they won’t even give you braces for your teeth unless it is giving you pain or damaging your teeth.

The way I see all these perks, is not necessarily to get poor people to join, or even exploiting them. I see it as a perk to treat and thank the military persons for the stuff they have done, or will go through to protect the country. Imagine serving in the military and receiving no perks what so ever. Other than the patriotic people, who would join?

Yahoo! Answers. Official voice of the U.S. Military.

I served in the Air Force for 10 years, recently separating when I became pregnant.
For whatever it’s worth, my reasoning for joining was as follows.  I did join for the benefits.  Goodness knows the Air Force got their moneys worth out of me and I, in turn, took full advantage of the military perks.  Using the GI bill, I’ve earned two AA and a BA.  I have had lasik surgery and traveled around the world on the AF dime.  I could go on for a page and a half.  I joined for the benefits, but I stayed in for bigger reasons.  The Air Force became my family and my culture.  The core values (integrity, service before self, and excellence in all you do) became my core values.  It wasn’t my goal to sacrifice for my country, but now that I have it has made my life richer.  My husband is active duty Air Force.  I hope to rejoin in some capacity once our over seas tour is over.  I am military for life. 
About the breast augmentation, it IS TRUE.  I have second hand experience.  I knew a good handful of women who had the surgery at Wright Patterson in Ohio.  The member pays for the actual implant, I think it ran around $2,000 a boob.  Wright Patterson is a huge medical facility.  I vaguely remember a friend explaining the purpose of the surgeries.  The doctors had to perform so many surgeries in the year for certification reasons.  Wright Patterson is a huge medical (and medical training) facility.  Things like boob jobs and braces all depend on the mission of base you are stationed at.  Like I said before, I knew some women at Wright Pat that had it done, but once I left that base I never came across it again.  It was a long time ago, my first assignment.  The cost and purpose are hazy and unofficial, but the breast augmentation unquestionably did happen. 

thank god, i thought this article would be about Japanese citizens trying to join the us military.It would be shameful.
i watched a movie directed by Takeshi Kitano i think,and there were japanese young men trying to join the us military “to protect japan”…..ridiculous.