The Importance Of Service In The US Military

Each year, for a multitude of reasons, more than 180,000 people enlist in the United States military and almost another 20,000 commission as officers (Jordan, 2014). Some cited reasons include life skills and experience, money for college, steady employment, or service to their country. Although this number may seem high, in reality, more than 71 percent of America’s youth would not qualify for entry into the military (Fitzgerald, 2014). In fact, the quality of potential military recruits that are accepted for service is at the highest it has been in over 40 years. For the past 14 years, we have been a nation at war, as our military has been directly involved in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) since 2001. During this time,
This foundation serves to establish a relationship with the Soldier while demonstrating through our daily actions what the military is all about. New Soldiers understand what is expected from them, but also what they can expect in return for themselves and families. This support system that many enjoy contributes economically to the military through developing a sense of pride and commitment to mission accomplishment. It teaches military members the importance of being good stewards of our resources as well as mission accomplishment through proper
The military has spent years developing benefits packages that are equal to or greater than that of civilian corporations. When you have a little less than 30 percent of the population that can even be considered for joining our ranks and around 1 percent with the propensity to join, you must do your best to set yourself apart. There are two things witnessed on a consistent basis in my over 25 years as an Army leader, Soldiers value their pay and benefits, and time off. From the very beginning of your military career, members accrue leave time at a rate of 2.5 days per month for a total of 30 days per year. While this in itself provides more vacation time especially initially than in other businesses or corporations out there, this is a great benefit to military members. If 30 days is not enough, service members are off the day before, the day of and the day after all federal holidays as well as working a half day schedule leading up to Christmas and through the New Year holiday. So with this in mind, the amount of time military members receive, more than satisfies the time off need. You have the normal full medical and dental programs with the ability to be seen on the installation or referred out at no cost to a civilian provider based on specialization or availability of care. While a good program, the better part is that the same service applies to your family members as well,