[PLMerite]

For some, the military is an alternative to welfare. Less now that they're going in harm's way, but back in the 90s...

[TankerKC]

For some, the military is an alternative to welfare.

Any work is an alternative to welfare.

[em2vn]

That's a great reason to join.

[Mathews]

Yeah... I don't agree with that at all. I joined in 1988 not because I wanted to, but because I had to. My family wasn't on welfare. I was just a knuckle head that needed the military to stay out of jail. Most of the kids I see come through the hatches these days are not only high school graduates, but a good percentage of them have had at least two years of college as well. Your thinking does not set well with me at all!

[Steel Wolf]

For some, the military is an alternative to welfare. Less now that they're going in harm's way, but back in the 90s...

I used to encounter that attitude back in the 90s, and to a man it was from senior NCOs. I'll never forget (as a newly minted buck sergeant) going toe to toe with an old E7 who was a negligent and incompetent slug. I pulled him aside after one particularly egrigious incident, for an NCO to NCO talk. The usual 'you need to set a better example for the troops, and start pulling your weight' chat. He brazenly laughed me off and boasted that the Army was nothing more than a welfare check to him.

I was shocked, but it dawned on me that he was entirely right. There wasn't a damn thing I could do about it, and so long as he kept showing up to work on time, there wasn't a damn thing the Army was going to do to him. He'd never make E8, but he couldn't have cared less.

I haven't heard anyone take that line for a long time, though. It's kind of like the 'I just joined for the college money' types. You used to hear that quite a bit, years back. They've pretty much cleared out by now.