Why do people join the military and then not expect to actually fight at all?

A different generation is enlisting, one that lives on Tiktok and Reddit. This isn't your daddy's military.

This was going on in the 90s too, it's nothing new. We didn't have furries and trannies back then, but still the same thing.

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A different generation is enlisting, one that lives on Tiktok and Reddit. This isn't your daddy's military.

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From 2000-2020 these young people had to spend more time in war than any other generation. I know people who have done many tours in Iraq or Afghanistan over their military careers.

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The politically incorrect answer is that the military is a jobs program for rural boys who don’t have much of a future

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Yes, but they aren’t signing up for a front line combat rate/mos if they just want a paycheck. You can choose your job. Also combat mos is the least likely to gain career training (if poor). You can be a mechanic or electrician in the military too

And before you ask if they are dumb there are plenty of non combat jobs that don’t require any certain asvab score

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Studies have also found that poor kids out of high school join the military for medical insurance they otherwise wouldn’t have gotten working as min wage laborers. In rural areas where it is common for poor 17/18 year old boys to already be impregnating their girlfriends, medical benefits are an especially attractive job perk

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The last thing on my mind enlisting at 18 was medical insurance. I didn’t give a shite about it when I got out either. In my 30s I started to care

If you had a prior condition that caused you to care about health insurance at 18 you aren’t getting in anyway

Anyone who has trained for combat has an itch to go. Even they aren’t getting a shot in these post Afghanistan conflicts. It’s the very few that have 10x more training than your average grunt, and I promise you they are ecstatic for the opportunity

Most jobs in the military are non combat, even during WW2.

I was a guard for a Sgt that refused to go to Desert Storm. Sat at his court martial where is said he was a conscientious objector . He got 5 years in Leavanworth. I got on the last plane the next day going to desert storm. I always thought that guy was a pussy.



A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service"[1] on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion.[2] The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–industrial complex due to a crisis of conscience

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Studies have also found that poor kids out of high school join the military for medical insurance they otherwise wouldn’t have gotten working as min wage laborers.

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Link these studies. Because i'm pretty sure what they actually say is that when it even sort of comes up as a primary driver, which is still only mentioned in less than a third of the respondents, they’re, at best, referenced broadly as "for the benefits" bundled with pay, training, and the GI Bill. Almost no one lists 'health insurance' as a standalone motivation.

I was in basic. We had this conversation constantly. I never heard anyone say they joined for health insurance. Not once. What I did hear: guys buying an F150 with their enlistment bonuses, guys trying to get college paid for, and a lot of guys,like me, who felt like they didn't have much going on, and felt were just spinning their wheels in whatever shite town they came from.

And think about the logic. The kind of person who is forward-thinking enough to prioritize health insurance for a primary life decision at 18 isn’t the same person who joins the army out of desperation.

Most people spend their life playing percentages even if they can't spell the word. Maybe 15% of members of the military will see combat as defined by CIB/CAB requirements, and less than half of those see what the average person would consider a firefight.

I have said over and over again that the US military is an international logistics company that happens to dabble in warfighting. It takes a lot of people to put that grunt with an M4 in the midst of the firefight.

I joined a peacetime Army, or so it seemed. Within a few short months of getting into my unit and getting my platoon, I found myself invading a country. Less than 13 months later, I was on to my second invasion. The odds were heavily against that, even as an 11A on Ft. Bragg.

People also want to feel like they are shooting and being shot at for a good reason. Those reasons seem to get more amorphous as time goes on. People don't want to risk death and disfigurement fighting a war that will get dismissed by the public as a stupid war at the time or in the future.

I’ll explain it for you.

They, the ones who aren’t just there for a jobs program, want to fight for America. Israel uses USA as their bartering ram. Enlistees want to protect our country or invade others for the safety of our country. This war felt very Isreal lead.