This question presupposes that most soldiers make a conscious, well-informed choice from a wide breadth of attractive options, rather than being coerced by a combination of inescapably dire socio-economic circumstances and timeless mythology about the inherent nobility of soldiering spread by people who, as evidenced by their ability to talk about it, obviously never experienced the ultimate realities of soldiering for themselves. But then I'm on thin ice, because neither did I, so for all I know soldiering is the bee's knees.