Actually, it seems that for most service members joining the military is one of several potential choices, and they simply weighed it as the best one for a handful of top reasons: Opportunity for career advancement, financial stability, having a family member already in the military, student financial support incentives, and moral / patriotic reasons. It's a popular myth that a large portion service members are there for lack of any practical alternative, in fact very few are. The DoD recruitment budget (Marketing campaign) is over $4 Billion annually last I checked, for the good reason that most recruits have to be convinced.

https://worldmetrics.org/reasons-for-joining-the-military-statistics/#b-7-data-sources
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0095327X251399177
https://docs.opa.mil/opa.mil-production1/reports/futures_surveys/YP60Fall2024PUBLICRELEASEPropensityUpdate_20250623_Briefing.pdf