Free food, clothing, medical care, tuition benefits, learning a skill you can use later that is more valued than any school in existence...
Roll that up against the minimum wage you posit and tell me which is a better value
And yet, they still have trouble making numbers. I've get to believe that the marginal cost to the military to feed an house one more recruit is pretty close to zero.
You pay for your uniforms.
The food is crap in the ground forces.
The medical care (have you ever had five male navy nurses holding your down while they take turns trying to get a spinal tap in?) is of the same level.
That skill for maintaining ground radar surveillance systems is really important in the civilian world, same as the thermal optics and guided missile Electronics. Huge demand.
Roll that up against the minimum wage you posit and tell me which is a better value.
which is better, a hangnail or stubbing your toe?