CMV: The army is not intended to be an educational or career stepping stone, it's for war and we should treat it as such

I'm an Army veteran and my view is that people tend to place far too high of a value on using the military as a means to get an education or improve their career prospects, and the military is often portrayed as some kind of welfare system intended to lift folks out of poor backgrounds and low socio-economic standing.<br><br>It's very common to hear things like "The army gave me my education" or "The army got me off the streets" or "The army gave me discipline." There's a constant narrative that the most beneficial part of joining the military is all the benefits you get outside of the actual functioning of the military itself. The GI Bill, because it was intended to prevent massive post-war unemployment, was an experiment that is not really applicable to today's society.<br><br>I believe we should allow veterans priority in hiring, but we should stop viewing the military as essentially a really really strict and potentially dangerous jobs program. <br><br>We should not be sending kids under 18 (or even 21) into the army, and if you join right out of high school you should already have a plan in place for life after service. It shouldn't be the army's responsibility to send you to school, and if you fail out of a job training program you should be let go the same way we would from a normal job. <br><br>The military is not intended to be a career stepping stone or an educational stepping stone, it exists to protect the country and win wars, and we do a lot of damage by forgetting that.<br><br>If you can change my view, you get a cool little positioned next to your name : )<br><br>&#x200B;