[Solumina]

For some people it has to do with family tradition, I know one of my friends is going to be joining up as soon as he is done with school simply because every man in his family has been in the navy for the past five generations, at least he will be going in as an officer.

Beyond that the military really isn't a bad deal, a lot of people simply don't know what they want to do and the military gives you a decent paying, secure job for a few years that has amazing benefits such as free health care, the GI bill, free travel, and the ability to see parts of the world that few travel to, yeah it isn't the safest career path but plenty of people honestly enjoy it and feel that they are doing something worthwhile, at the very least it is more interesting than sitting at a desk all day.