Asklemmy

I would assume it also has to do with your assignment and how much/if any combat you’ve experienced and injuries you sustained.

My Dad was drafted into Vietnam - infantry - and was wounded. He was only there ~ 6 months, and tried to go to university on the GI Bill, but for awhile couldn’t stand being in that type of environment immediately after returning home. PTSD/survivor’s guilt, etc, were too much.

Later on in life his injuries prevented him from being able to work. This, combined with rising medical debt, left us in a bad spot.

What you’re exposed to when you serve and when you served also come into play - PTSD is taken more seriously now, as are the effects of things like Agent Orange. I’m not sure if the VA is better or worse from, say, 20 years ago, but that could also be a factor.

Not sure if this helps to answer your question, but that’s my personal anecdote.

In the military there are two separate classes, officers and enlisted. Officers had at least a bachelor's degree and the military is a much different experience for them. They come in day as leaders, are paid significantly more, and have more opportunities to make lifelong connections with powerful people.

Enlisted are treated like blue collar workers, the grunts. Just in their day to day jobs enlisted people are going to have more wear and tear on their bodies. Take battle experience out of it, just as is, officers have a much better path forward.

Fraternization is illegal between officers and enlisted which basically makes it two segregated classes.

Enlisted folks also tend to come from lower income families, so while they are giving more opportunities than staying in their home town it can still be difficult for them to advance much higher.

In short, you have a large mixture of people from different ways of life with different education levels. Some take advantage of stuff like the GI Bill or other opportunities,. others don't. Also some give their bodies to the extent that they can't really function at the same levels on the outside.

I keep seeing posts like this, and I have to wonder if OP is a kid or if they just have no real life experience. Do homeless people stay homeless in your mind?

Family and social supports when you get out. There is a lot of adjustment to a world where you have to make your own way and decisions. Having support lets you make some mistakes and recover. Even if that is just getting a wrong job, or not finding a place to live fast enough.

You're assuming that the dramatically segmented and stratified experience is the "exact same service", which is patently not true.

There's a world of difference between a black officer who managed a supply line, a white non-comp who maintained aircraft, and a queer rifeman who witnessed half his unit die to an IED. And that's ignoring rape, gang infiltration, religions discrimination, and plain ol "was your CO a jerk or awesome?"

I suspect that mental health and social support at home play huge roles here.

Sample bias. Any advertising, campaigning, fawning and celebrating are the exceptions. You are exposed to the "success stories" exponentially more through media thanks to government and corporate forces despite the successes being exponentially rarer than the failures: suicides, mental health disorders, divorces, denied medical care by VA, insufficiency of college fund programs, underemployment, etc. The coverage Success Stories get as the 1% or whatever, dwarfs the failures which are the 99%. This reversed representation explains why they may be perceived as equally likely, which is confusing.

The answer is sample bias; deliberately misleading. After all, who is going to sign up if they could see reality represented? Most would just work fast food--same crappy outcomes, fewer bullets.