Various Dates / Various Authors / Quora - Many view military service in the US Military from a personal perspective outside the official narrative of military recruiters and U.S. Government agencies that carry the official line as is demanded of them. A basic question of why American citizen's should not join the military, and why, is not an often offered as a subject for a public discussion as one might expect. Reasons an American citizen might choose not to join the military, and the lack of widespread public discussion on these points, involve a mix of practical, personal, ethical, and cultural factors as well. Though the NNOMY website does not republish discussions from public forums online, we make an exception to the question, "Are there any reasons why an American citizen shouldn't join the military" and listen to the perspectives of people with opinions and even experience on the question courtesy of the Quora Online Forum.
Why shouldn’t you join the U.S. military?
Well, that’s a relatively difficult question to answer. Reason is, most people join the military very young, don’t really have any clue what the military is about (that’s true even for military “brats” — being around the military is very different than being in it). The end result is most of us that stay long do so for very different reasons than when we joined.
It’s equally true that for no fault of their own, some people just aren’t cut out for the military. So here are some things to consider.
- Even though one of the main purposes of the military really is to kill people and blow up stuff, for the most part we don’t kill people and blow up stuff. If you think that the military is for the most part doing cool Rambo (or insert pop culture reference of the day) stuff, you’re likely to be severely disappointed. Depending on your chosen job field, you may spend far more time doing classes, admin, or support work than even going out to the field. Deployments are not guaranteed, either, so you might not ever do your job “for real” even as an infantryman.
- The military is not about you. For the most part, you are assigned to positions based on your job code and rank, not for anything in particular about you. There are no merit pay raises, your pay is strictly based on your rank and your total years of service. The primary advantage of good evaluations is so that you can continue to serve. That’s not to say that having skills in other areas than your job aren’t useful, just that they’re not necessary. If you want a job where your individual strengths are valued and you’re recognized for your own contributions, the military may not be for you.
- The commander is the most important person - always - and most of the time, it’s not you. It’s actually an institutional part of the military. One head of an organization makes for efficiency. The staff is there to support the decision making of the commander. But it also means that one person greatly affects the climate of the unit, and if you hold a different view than the commander, you’re wrong. Command is a season - if you’re enlisted (I think ~80% of the military), you’re never commander. Even if you’re an officer, even if you’re really, really awesome, maybe you’ll command 6 years of a 20+ year career.
- Related — your boss may not be smarter, more experienced, or even older than you - but he (or she) does outrank you! Consider 2LT Snuffy and SFC Smith. The 22 year old LT just graduated from a fine institute of higher education, went to his high speed LT’s course, and is raring and ready to go in his brand spanking new Army career. His platoon sergeant is Sergeant First Class Smith, let’s say 12 years in the Army, started as an E-1. It was a sacrifice but he put in the time and got his bachelor’s degree just like the LT. The Army is absolutely unambiguous. LT Snuffy outranks SFC Smith and is therefore in charge, even though he is younger, has the same education, and way less experience. This can lead to dynamics some would find very difficult.
- The military demands total control over your life, and reaches down far more than civilian life. “Can you work overtime?” doesn’t exist - it’s “you’re on duty until 2200.” “Go get a haircut.” Your pay is reviewed by your company commander every month. Your commander can refer you to a psych evaluation if they feel you’re unfit for duty. If you live in the barracks, you can expect “health and welfare” inspections. The fact is, the military goes very much into “your business.” Some find it good, others an invasion of privacy.
- You will be judged on your appearance and physical fitness. The Army doesn’t hide the fact — AR 600–9 (The Army Body Composition Program) 3–2d says:
Commanders have the authority to direct a body fat assessment on any Soldier that they determine does not present a Soldierly appearance, regardless of whether or not the Soldier exceeds the screening table weight for his or her measured height.
- (in other words, if your commander feels you look fat, they can make you prove you’re not, regardless of how tall you or how much you weigh - and the way to “prove” it isn’t very accurate). For higher promotions you must have a photo. And for physical fitness, people will generally assume fit Soldiers are good ones, and less fit are bad ones - until either proves otherwise. Most people outside of the military would consider this pretty superficial. In fact outside of the military, this is largely illegal.
- And finally, the military can break you. Regardless of what your job is, the demands of physical fitness, very long hours, times away from home, stress from deployment / combat, etc. etc. etc. can really take a toll. PTSD is really a thing, many people at the end of their careers have significant disabilities, etc.
All that said, probably kind of obvious that coming up on 30 years serving in the Army that there must be good stuff about it, and there is. And yes, it all makes up for it, at least for me.
And that is the service. The Army is far greater than any of the people in it. It’s been rolling along for 242 years. But it is composed of people from all walks of life and from every state. We have the life was have in the United States because of it, and even though the Army isn’t any one of us, all of us are part of it - something greater than ourselves. I personally am still in it to take care of Soldiers, even as my leaders took care of me.
God bless everyone!
1.) You can't stand being told what to do.
Look, nobody likes being told what to do. But the military will dictate just about everything you do, and they will tell you to do things that seemingly fly in the face of logic, but you will have to do it anyways.
When push comes to shove military personnel have to obey orders with little to no information. It has to be done and done right away. There's not enough time for a commander to explain his rationale. And you're probably not important enough to know why.
2.) You want glory.
It doesn't take long for flies to recognize a corpse and to set up a nursery in dead flesh. It doesn't take long for that stench of death to follow. Human bodies smell awful, worse than anything else I can think of. Large amounts of blood will stink too.
Laying awake all night after a real, real, real bad day, starving for sleep, with your mind incessantly going through every minutiae of what you personally could have done better has no glory.
Feeling that you let your comrades down even if you were thrown in a bad situation and did the best you could has no glory.
Working hours on end, doing back breaking work only to be told to wrap it up and completely forget what you were working for has no glory.
Waiting long hours, doing nothing, then hurried, then forced just as quickly to wait some more. Usually in a place that's lacking in central heating or Air conditioning.
3.) You don't like working with other people.
Oh man, the thing is in the military you are a cog in a machine. Dependent on other gears, with other gears dependent on you. You are replaceable for sure. But it better be for a good reason like death or maiming, (or in garrison, dental appointments but that's an advanced subject).
The people to your left and your right will depend on you and you on them. And if you screw it up you will be told so quickly and in rather coarse fashion. It sucks to get crap from your boss, but it sucks double to earn the scorn of your peers.
4.) You like your privacy.
One day while I was in it dawned on me: I will have seen more naked men in person than I ever will naked women. This saddened me and those with whom I shared this observation, misery loving company.
But it's not only that you lose all shame being naked in front of others, a good leader will want to know everything about you, and you will be compelled to tell them. Where you come from, your family members, your full social security number, your career goals, what you did before joining, your interests, etc.
If you own a car your direct supervisor will be derilict in duty if he doesn't have a copy of your driver's license, insurance information, registration, and financing arrangements if applicable.
There's a lot of time all you can do is talk with others around you and you're going to share a lot. Your closest friends will know stuff that your blood relatives or your spouse doesn't know about you. It's an intimate relationship that happens, and you will have to do it many times over because your leadership will constantly be changing and your peers will too.
5.) You are, and will feel completely disposable, and replaceable, once you get out. The military will keep on rolling with or without you. It has to be. You aren't special, and in due time there will be few who you worked with still in. That doesn't mean you cant do good or be proud of what you did, just be cognizant of the fact that you will only be special to those with whom you served, and that you can laugh at civilians who complain about waiting for things…
The military has a lot of screening criteria, so it’s estimated that currently, at least 70% of young adults wouldn’t qualify. The criteria include no psychiatric disorders requiring medication, no criminal history, no drug use, physical fitness, high school graduate, no immunity problems, no significant health/body issues, no body alterations such as heavy piercings, ability to pass the ASVAB academic assessment test.
A huge amount of boys are getting diagnosed with ADHD and drugged. They don’t want people who need drugs to function.
Kids involved in crime, especially gangs, are out. You don’t want to give combat training to someone with criminal tendencies.
The military is zero tolerance on drugs, unless your last name is Biden. Military environments are dangerous with lots of heavy equipment, even without combat.
Many urban kids can’t do an hour of exercise and are obese. They would never pass boot camp, and wouldn’t maintain physical fitness standards.
High school graduate: if you can’t even show up daily to do the minimum to graduate, you’ll never make it in the military.
The military loads you up with immunizations. You need a strong immune system. You get so injected with so much crap that you quit asking what it’s for. You also get exposed to lots of industrial mystery gunk, and worse. People with lots of allergies, skin conditions including acne, asthma, or other issues won’t make it.
If you have already had major surgery, have a real disability, or have gone to a mutant named Iron Spork who pierced/tatted/altered you from head to toe, you don’t qualify. The military wants people still covered by the original warranty.
There is also an academic test called the ASVAB. It roughly measures intelligence, education, ability to read/write basic English and follow basic instructions, and job aptitude. Any high school graduate should be able to pass. Some states such as California and Oregon have such poor academic standards and graduation rates that their high school diplomas are now just attendance certificates. You literally get the piece of paper just for showing up. This is going to cause recruitment in those states to plummet, as high school graduates can’t even perform at a 6th grade level. In spite of anti-military dogma, Uncle Sam has no use for illiterate bullet sponges.
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If you can pass all those screening requirements, check it out. You may decide you want to try, or you may decide heck no. There’s lots of other stuff, but that list is a start.
I respect those who choose to put their lives on the line for their fellows, not only soldiers, sailors, and airpersons, but also police, firefighters, EMTs, doctors who volunteer for organizations like Doctors Without Borders, emergency rescue personnel, and many others.
However, while I honor the decisions of my friends and family and even strangers to join the military, I would never recommend anyone to do so. My father, who fought in Vietnam and trained Vietnamese soldiers when he was in the US Army, also strongly advised me not to join the military when I was a senior in high school. He believed he had been betrayed by his country, when he learned the truth behind many of America’s actions regarding the Vietnam War. I had been thinking about signing up, because that way I could get a free university education after I got out, and my other choice was to go into a lot of debt. I am glad I followed his advice.
Why? Because the US military is used by the rich and powerful as a way to make money and maintain a grip on political power. Yes, it has more noble aims, but those aims are often ignored by those who control it. The US military has often been used as a tool of oppression against other nations and even against our own citizens, and it’s being used that way right now, and it has been for most of my lifetime. And that oppression is carried out in order to put money in the pockets of people who don’t give a damn how many people die as a result, our own citizens or other countries’ citizens.
I know that nobody joins the military with the goal of being a lackey for oligarchs. They want to defend their country. They want to do good. Or at the very least they want to make a better life for themselves, and take advantage of those things that all Americans should have by default: free or at least affordable lifelong healthcare and education. And I honor their choice. But they need to understand that there is a very high chance they will be sent into harm’s way for ignoble reasons, that they may end up killing “enemy” soldiers and even innocent civilians without any just cause, that their orders may further erode America’s standing, that they will be used in ways that actually make America less secure. And that they and their companions may die in the process.
The American military is, by and large, an honorable institution, though it has had internal scandals as well. I believe most of the individual members of the military are honorable. But the people who try to use them all too often do so in dishonorable ways. There are other ways you can serve your community.
I told my kids not to join the military because the children of the people who send them to war will not go with them.
Why don’t the children of the super rich join up? Yes a very few do, but most of those get cushy postings - only the most hardcore insist on going into combat, and you can probably count those on the fingers of your hands. The rest are having fun at frat parties at Yale and Harvard and Stanford and Brown while the children of commoners go off to kill and die.
If the US military existed purely for defense, I would be a great fan - but when it is viewed as an instrument of oppression by most of the rest of the world, many of whom are on the receiving end, that’s something else entirely.
Like everything else in this country, it is ultimately just another way of putting trillions of dollars in certain peoples pockets, while the children of the ordinary folk go off to kill and die in foreign lands, and make more enemies for America.
You and I will never see a penny of the trillions spent on contracts for bullets, foreign and local bases, missiles, aircraft carriers, combat aircraft, uniforms, helmets, food, medicines, fuel, boots, and so on. That goes to the owners of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin and Blackwater (or whatever they call themselves these days), and Boeing, and Colt and General Dynamics and so forth. Much of it finds its way back into the re-election campaigns of an irredeemably corrupt congress - Republican and Democrat.
This is the nightmare Eisenhower warned us about - the Military Industrial Complex.
Some of that money is plowed back into the massive propaganda machine that manufactures largely imaginary enemies and stirs up macho jingoistic sentiment to convince the youth of this country that joining up to go “kick a**” overseas is the most noble thing anyone can ever do with their lives, and will earn them an eternal debt of gratitude and hero-worship from their fellow citizens.
I believe that the last truly righteous war that the United States fought was WW2. Most others after that have been wars of oppression against largely made up enemies.
I’m not naive enough to believe that the United States has no enemies. The US has enemies for sure - it’s always been a dangerous world. However, most of America’s enemies today are created by US foreign policy abroad - from support of various dictators, to covert overthrowing of legitimate governments, to illegal invasions, and more.
Until the Erics and Donald Jrs. and Ivankas and Malias and Sashas and Jennas and Barbaras and Chelseas of America join up and go to war, my children will never do so!
Freedom of speech. I’m entitled to my own opinion.
NOTE: The selections above were not all in this Quora posting. They are ones that made the most engaging reasons NOT to join the military. There were others and they can be read at the
Source: https://www.quora.com/Are-there-any-reasons-why-an-American-citizen-shouldnt-join-the-military
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Updated on 10/09/2025 - GDG
