[quote=So Boerd]
The military is just a better version of welfare. You both pay poor people, but with welfare you pay them to sit on their butts where the military gives them great job skills. Don't tell me the military wastes money if you love a Eurowelfare state.
[/quote]

People sitting on their butts would be a neutral position, economically. The Military is a negative one. Welfare would be somebody being payed to be a purchaser who doesn't produce. The Military is somebody payed to do damage, and then not produce. And that is just talking about the mythological creature that is the welfare queen. For the most part, welfare is just used to hold up people who are productive in low pay jobs.

And no, the military doesn't only gives job skills to people in support roles, and even that is kind of iffy. Our current job market likes people who follow traditional paths, so ex-military often ends up struggling. Somebody who sees combat gets it even worse, because people assume combat experience means baggage. For years, I assumed that the military was a good jumping point too, until I worked in a place meant for finding people jobs. The biggest complications were prison time, military service, and having a disability.