What is stopping any other able bodied person from following the same route?

Where are the hook ups and hand outs that got me here?

In the military if you don't progress fast enough you get tenured out. We don't have the luxury of deciding that being a worker is enough, I. Don't need to move up any more.

At the end of each enlistment we receive a perform to serve evaluation, or PTS. any negative marks, especially during the draw down, resulted in discharge. A negative mark could be as small as not doing enough pushups that one time 2 years ago.

A few years ago there was a massive series of discharges called DRB where up to 20% of some communities were given six months notice that they were being discharged. These were people with up to 15 years in. These were people with up to six years left on their contracts.

On top of all that I am in aviation where something as simple as losing a washer or a pen can result in losing half months pay for two months, restriction (no cars, no electronics, no leaving base, eat only in the galley, no visitation) reduction in rank, (in san diego that is about $10 ayear) Extra duty, and discharge. What happened the last time you misplaced a pen at the office?

I understand walking around with an axe hanging over your neck. I pay a lot of attention to the job markets because one of the things I do is help people find jobs when they are getting out.

I also know that anyone willing to put in the hard work and bust their ass can go from making $16k in the military to making +$60k in under 5 years and have strong training and qualifications to move on to other sectors if they choose.

I don't see how being in the military automatically dismisses the value of the work it took to get to where I am.