[I've concluded] the principle motivator is people are fucking stupid

'People' are fucking children manipulated by a culture of hero worship and silver-tongued adults who have oriented their entire career around sending more poor, needy, directionless, or depressed teenagers to die in the sand than their coworkers.

At the lowest points of my adult life (read: old enough to enlist), there has always been a military recruiter trying to convince me to join up. Military recruiters know when you graduate high school, and they know you’ll be feeling directionless and insecure. They know the same when you graduate college, but also that you’ll be in debt and could be feeling hopeless about not finding employment.

I was texted by a military recruiter yesterday, telling me that the military could help with my student loan debt. I will be texted again within the month by someone else. They've added me on Facebook, they've followed me on Instagram, they've fucking mailed my house. You don't have to be 'fucking stupid' to fall for this, you just have to trust your government and make what looks and smells like a responsible, respectable decision.

Re-examine your conclusion there, and remember that the kids you're talking about are seventeen and have been raised in a culture of Support Our Troops or "Join the military or go work at McDonald's."

Military recruiting is fucking predatory, and recruiters are uniformly scum for talking vulnerable kids into an early grave.