I got an Air Force job and security clearance. I parlayed that into a job with a defense contractor and over a 30 year career made far more than my sister the RN.
Now I have a pension and she does not.
The majority of my generation of my extended family ended up in medical careers, with the major exceptions of myself, my cousin the State Department weinie (the exception in the dept, very conservative) and my cousin the postal worker.
Yes, we are all boomers.
I meant to add that I stayed with one company my entire civilian career. That is important for the pension route or the 401nk, for those who can stand to stick it out.