A lot of the people in the military have a legitimate gripe because they see paramilitary civilian contractors do the same job or nearly the same job they are doing for huge amounts of pay.
You can retire from the army after a mere 20 years with about 1/2 your base pay for life plus free or cheap medical benefits for life etc. Thus, if you go in at age 18, you can start over at 38 with a raftload of bennies and pay until you die. On top of that, you can pursue whatever other career you so desire. Name me a single civilian position that offers the same.
good point. I forgot about the 1/2 base pay part, despite it's what my dad is doing.