I think this is a major factor. The enlisted pay scales are publicly available knowledge and for the lower enlisted ranks especially they really don’t look ver

I think this is a major factor. The enlisted pay scales are publicly available knowledge and for the lower enlisted ranks especially they really don’t look very appealing. Although military pay goes up every year, it has not kept up with inflation. The proposed pay raise for next year is 4.6% despite inflation being 8.6%. There are already a lot of military families that qualify for public assistance and one can expect this problem to only get worse.