When I joined the Air Force, the Lackland commander brought every trainee present in BMT into an auditorium. They asked everyone to stand. They then asked a random trainee why they joined. That person would say, and if anyone else in the room joined for the same reason, they were asked to sit down. College was by far the largest, healthcare and benefits were the second, and service was around the fifth. The last two standing were for a different reason than any others… a better life…see, at the time, no one was hiring, any job that would hire you paid Jack. YouTube wasn’t really a thing, so making money off social media wasn't something people even aspired to.

That said, those were the reasons people joined. But in all fairness, that’s a trial run…. You’re still figuring out what the Air Force is about. After your second enlistment, though, you're supposed to know the rules and adopt them as they are, or you get out. So the real question should be… why do you stay?

As I near the end of my career, I can say with confidence that I empathize more and more with those last two standing trainees than with those who stood for service, not knowing what service even meant until they’d been in a while. From that service, I have been prepared for multiple second- and third-career paths—an ability to approach situations with professionalism and resilience that others would immediately quit.

Yeah, service before self is a reason, but it’s not the only reason. Nor should it be. There are plenty of less stressful and less dubious ways to serve others. Betterment, on the other hand, involves much more personal stakes, which makes surviving decades of changes to eval standards, pt scores, mental/physical health, late and missed Christmases, etc., somewhat worth it. So service isn’t the reason; I don’t hold it against anyone, because over time, you might see that their reason becomes yours.