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> someone that becomes that wealthy while serving (via a trust-fund, large inheritance, or winning the lottery) would no longer be a good fit for the military. They usually get offered an Honorable Discharge.

That's shocking. Where is this rule? Have you seen it happen? I didn't know wealth defined fitness for service.




Of course wealth defines fitness for service (in America, anyway).

Isn't "money for college and healthcare" kinda obvious about it? Like there's almost a wink and a nudge at the end of it.

It's super blatant that having very few economic options and no healthcare chooses fitness for service for you.


The evidence is to the contrary--middle class and above are over-represented in the US military.

"Their median family income is more than $73,000, compared with $66,000 for civilians, and recruits are most likely to come from families in the middle of the wealth distribution, with median wealth of $87,000, almost $10,000 more than civilians."

This is for enlisted members. It's probably safe to have some intuition that officers will skew wealthier.


In the UK it’s pretty common for wealthy upper-class people to do a few years in the Army before they take over the family business.




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