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The world is running out of soldiers
(www.vox.com)
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this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2024
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In the run up to WW2, the US government made a very big deal of socially incentivizing military enlistment. The GI Bill offered education and housing benefits. Military work was competitive with the private sector and you had lots of off-ramps into the civilian side of the government. Military families enjoyed local prestige, particularly in the officer's corps, so it was a good stepping stone up the socio-economic ladder. And the military operated as a strong network for business advancement, both as a military contractor and as a civilian with a tight-knit social circle of ex-military friends and neighbors.
All of that has been dissolving since the Vietnam Era. Soldiering isn't considered a particularly noble profession. The pay is shit. The benefits have been cut back enormously. Enlisted pay is worse than service sector work and military families often live in poverty. There's no real path to career advancement and enormous liabilities that come with 5+ years working around dangerous military equipment.
40 years ago, you could make a litany of arguments for why military service was personally advantageous. Today? The only reason to join is because you've got a shot at some brass, and even then you'd be way better off angling for a high paying civilian role.
They tired to get me to join because I had to take asvab to graduate and got a good score. I'm really surprised I didn't. Almost thirty years later I'm probably more poor then I would have been but I don't have PTSD and I'm not a monster... So that's nice
I can't speak to everyone's experience, but I did my 4 and got out in 2020 due to a physical injury. While I was in it wasn't great, but my wife and I collectively made about 100k/year with her as a teacher, we lived pretty well.
Since I got out, I attend school for free, receive a housing stipend, don't pay property taxes, receive free healthcare, and I'll receive about $50k this year in tax free disability. My kids and wife will have tuition if they decide to go (back) to school and they all receive free health insurance.
I don't think there's a lack of incentives at all, but simply people don't know of the benefits they can receive. No one sits down with them and explains it all and we end up with vets with PTSD on the streets because of it
Correct me if I am wrong, but it sounds like some (a lot) of your benefits are from your injury/disability?
Are you saying everyone should get disabled coming out of the military in order to collect benefits?
There's no doubt that I beat up my body while I was in the service, but no more than most tradesman do in their first years of life. I still train jiu jitsu regularly and am capable of doing most things (save for running).
You're correct in assuming that I receive some of my benefits due to my disabilities, such as my property taxes and my disability payments, but lots of benefits are available to those without any disability rating.
Some of the non disability related benefits include:
Again I am considered a disabled veteran, so some of the benefits I gain from that are:
All of my injuries are what I would call "wear and tear", I have shin splints and back pain and what have you, things that everyone gets on their way to their 30s regardless. I'm just lucky enough to have been in a place where I can receive compensation for that wear and tear. The only exception to my injuries that most people won't have is a genetic blood clotting condition that I'll be on thinners for for the rest of my life, but they only awarded me 20% for that.
You also don't need to be 100% disabled to collect these benefits, things like Chapter 31 are given out pretty liberally, and property tax exemptions are usually pretty well laid out.
All this to say that while yes some benefits are locked behind a disability rating, you will receive one for regular wear and tear on your body
What are you on about?
I was in 2011-2016 (enlisted) and it was a great start to my career.
When I was in we made plenty to live on and save up. I got into a job that translated well to the civilian side and I now make over 250k a year without a degree. Not that I couldn’t pay for it, because that would also not cost me anything if I chose to do it.
Try recommending this to people complaining about their lack of options on Lemmy and you’ll get crucified because they don’t like the military.
Damn man, I need to get into whatever field you're in.
IT support has an extremely wide range of pay. Cloud support pays much better.
I'll be graduating at the end of summer, hopefully I'll have a cybersecurity position with the school I'm at
Ahh well in that case you may already be on your way.