If it had no downsides, it could be an easy choice. But between the dubious morality, war crimes and PTSD, it's hard to compensate regardless of the positives (money, relatively, discipline, physical fitness?)
If that were the only things soldiers did. However...
Either way, you did something good. Unlike many of your comrades. You got the lucky ticket that was the thing you were ordered to do (or offered to volunteer).
How many military avionics technicians or dental assistants or petroleum supply specialists end up committing war crimes or suffering from PTSD? Come on.
We should be more judicious about using military forces as part of foreign policy, and provide better support to the combat troops who are deployed into impossible situations. But the majority of personnel are in low risk support jobs that aren't much different from typical civilian jobs. Lose the hyperbole.
> How many military avionics technicians or dental assistants or petroleum supply specialists end up committing war crimes or suffering from PTSD? Come on
In some countries, working for a criminal organization, will land you in jail.
Bullshit. Most enlistment contracts specify a particular career field. The troops in combat arms are there because they chose that option. The Pentagon isn't going to take a dental assistant and reassign them to infantry unless they specifically request that change (and meet various eligibility criteria).
Your contract specified that you wouldn’t be sent to a war zone? I don’t believe that. You might be able to find a job that’s unlikely to get you deployed.
If the US military starts wantonly changing enlistment contracts, we aren't that far from a national draft anyway, so the distinction is kind of meaningless.
I assure you that the average US soldier does not have a job nearly exciting enough to be committing war crimes. The average soldier is positioned in a nondescript base in the middle of Kansas changing HMMV tires and engine oil.
It's pretty hard to execute this job with dubious morality.
Happy to hear it worked out well for you. My point isn't to dismiss military as a career.
It's more about if you are a teenager deciding to join military because you believe the things a psyops egirl on TikTok told you, it's very likely that a series of disappointments is awaiting for you there on top of the opportunity cost of your wrong choice.