> The problem is that the military is basically welfare for small towns and southern states. Bingo. I served for the financial incentives (though I enlisted fr

> The problem is that the military is basically welfare for small towns and southern states. Bingo. I served for the financial incentives (though I enlisted from a misguided sense of patriotism immediately after 9/11). My father, my brother, aunts and uncles, and even cousins who served; All of us from small rural towns in the midwest. I needed to obtain the means to pursue higher education and this was my path. What you so succinctly said here is completely spot on.