# So is it actually bad if people join the military for the bennies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 11, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-actually-bad-if-people-join-the-military-for-the-bennies/745818 "2016-02-11T15:12:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-actually-bad-if-people-join-the-military-for-the-bennies/745818/61 "2016-02-13T18:59:45Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I remember many years ago someone in the news (I think it was a grandparent) raging against the first Iraq war and how it wasn’t fair his precious grandson was going to be sent into harm’s way because after all he only joined in order to get an education. I’d say he got one. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-actually-bad-if-people-join-the-military-for-the-bennies/745818/62 "2016-02-13T19:24:54Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > The probability of just about every risky thing is pretty low. Well, I do know that one sub during Libya 1986 Gulf of Sidra shenanegans, mrAru’s sub, had a Libyan crewed Soviet submarine and 2 surface sub hunters chasing it, also back in the late 1980s had a Soviet submarine actually get sonar lock on it while playing underwater where they probably shouldn’t have been. And after a refit, one of his subs had mechanical issues serious enough they almost didn’t surface again. \* Just because you are in a “safe” MOS and service doesn’t mean there is no danger, there is always negligable danger [one of his crewmates got hauled off the sub in a strait jacket under sedation while underway, another got air evacuated to Naples because his appendix exploded, and SEAL I _knew_ died in training from a stupid nonweapon involved accident [vehicle he was driving overturned.] Life by definition is a terminal condition, the only thing that varies is how one dies, in bed of cardiac arrest, in a vehicle accident, medical issue while young or blown to bits by a bomb in Hiroshima. Nobody expects to die randomly, but it does happen. \*mrAru does actually talk in his sleep, which is probably why they did a security clearance on spouses. I figure the Gulf of Sidra is close enough to aging out of need to know after 29 years. Actually all the examples are older than 25 years. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-actually-bad-if-people-join-the-military-for-the-bennies/745818/63 "2016-02-13T20:08:02Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Anyone who thinks a major country today could abolish its armed forces without consequence is not someone I care to debate; their reality disconnect is too large. Whatever you say. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-actually-bad-if-people-join-the-military-for-the-bennies/745818/64 "2016-02-14T01:05:26Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > “This recruiter comes by our highschool, and says, ‘Who wants to be a paratrooper?’ We didn’t know what that was, so he says, ‘We give you a parachute, and you jump out of a plane.’ We said he was crazy. Who’d sign up for that? Then he said, ‘You get an extra $20 a month…’” > [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > People signed up, at least in some cases, for the 82nd Airborne for the same reason. That’s not why I joined the Navy, but it is why I volunteered for subs. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-actually-bad-if-people-join-the-military-for-the-bennies/745818/65 "2016-02-15T04:28:07Z")
That is a positive trait, rather than a negative. ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-actually-bad-if-people-join-the-military-for-the-bennies/745818/66 "2016-02-15T10:21:39Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > That’s not why I joined the Navy, but it is why I volunteered for subs. You volunteered for subs to be a _paratrooper_?!? That’s **badass**! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-actually-bad-if-people-join-the-military-for-the-bennies/745818/67 "2016-02-15T17:46:34Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > But yes, I joined for jingoism, stayed for the benefits, sometimes miss the camaraderie, and still get together with some friends from the service. Of the 10 closest friends, 2 are still in (one made Bird!). Did your views on “the jingoism” change during your service? ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-actually-bad-if-people-join-the-military-for-the-bennies/745818/68 "2016-02-15T22:43:10Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Did your views on “the jingoism” change during your service? The first shift was when I did some training with guys from the Academy - those guys scared the shit out of me. I thought I was a right-wing patriot (farm town high school, minority meant you were Catholic or Mormon, etc.). Those guys were frightening in their perspective. Suddenly, instead of me being the “ROTC NAZI” as I was called on my west coast campus, I became the “California Hippie Marine” when talking to the future ring knockers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-actually-bad-if-people-join-the-military-for-the-bennies/745818.md?page=3)