I don't see the military as a challenge to be conquered, a privilege to participate in, or as a place to rise the ranks. I have little desire to prove how much

I don't see the military as a challenge to be conquered, a privilege to participate in, or as a place to rise the ranks. I have little desire to prove how much of a man I am in the marines. I do look up to people such as Admiral Rickover. Jocko is the type of person that makes the military appealing. There is a legacy of quality engineering and civic contribution in the past that has been decimated by the consequences of Nixon/Reagan era policies, chiefly, selling out America to billionaires. So "convince themselves that they could do it" is a characterization that does not make sense because I don't (and most middle class people don't) see the military as an achievement. Doctor, Lawyer, or Engineer is what the middle class sees as achievement, not military. Military is strictly viewed as an act of service and a sacrifice. > ONE thing It's not one thing. It is the thing. The US military is famously civilian led, and the civilian leaders are an absolutely corrupt mess in complete disarray. Characterizing that as "this ONE thing" is bad faith. Saying you don't want to join an organization because the leadership sucks isn't "ONE thing." It's not a triviality. It is core to the organizations mission and execution of that mission. > hot topic soup If you think I'm providing hot topic soup and not a generational liberal middle class understanding of America and our place in the world, well I wish you would be a bit more open minded. The institutions that train the people that build your tools are full of people with an understanding not too dissimilar to mine. The people who work in cybersecurity and signals frequently come from the same background as me. The government has explicitly talked about how hard it is to train for cybersecurity and how hard it is to attract cybersecurity talent. That's because cybersecurity is not about domination and hierarchy. Cybersecurity is about curiosity. A rigid hierarchy with a mission of dominance is not conducive to curiosity. Curiosity is a fundamentally liberal principle so an illiberal military is going to have a hard time attracting the curious. The act of hacking is practically an act of questioning authority.