Chapotraphouse

TBH the military isn't that great of an option economically. It allows for a little bit of a distraction from the immediate conditions, an opportunity to travel, a sense of purpose, and a promise (read: lie) that it will give them an advantage.

Anecdotally, I've met a few veterans who completed 1 tour and then decided to go to college because there was nothing much available for them, and a few more who picked up substance abuse and other bad habits from their enlistment, or were just floundering. I don't know the exact figures but I would suppose that for each 1 returning veteran success story, there are 8 veterans barely getting by working in dead-end jobs, and 1 veteran either homeless or institutionalized or prematurely dead.