Are there some families where it is sort of… just expected… for the kids to serve in the military?

19 comments

1. With 330,000,000 people I’m sure this exists.

   It is not a common sentiment by any in my experience.

2. There’s an incredible amount of benefits to joining the military, so I am sure lots of parents push their kids into joining, just like some families push kids into a certain career, a trade school, or college.

3. Yes, that is extremely common. I am the first in five generations to not join the military in my family. The only reason I didn’t join is because I was disqualified for medical reasons.

4. It’s not common (might have been more so a generation or two ago though); more common is a ‘military brat’ joining not because they were forced to be their parents, but they’re already immersed in the culture so they know what to expect. Honestly it’s probably more common (though still not the norm) for military parents to want their kids to do anything *but* join the military, especially if they have frontline combat experience.

5. Yeah I’m sure this exists.

6. Going into certain professions is common for certain families, it’s not exclusive to the military

7. It tends to become a family tradition within military families. My grandpa, my dad, an uncle, and myself all served in various branches. It wasn’t expected per se, but it was always the backup and plenty of advice was given for choosing a branch and job. I went to military hospitals and air shows as a kid. Just being exposed to the culture makes it a lot easier to join. There’s a lot worse ways to spend 4 years in your twenties, (although I did a *lot* more than 4 lol)

   Just think of Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump, he had a lot to live up to…

8. Sure, that happens. But it’s far from universal even in families with a long history of military service.

9. There are military career families, sure. They aren’t super common I don’t think. I doubt there are many where it is “expected” as in it would cause some family strife if a kid didn’t join.

10. In some families it’s expected that children will follow the same profession as their parents. Not exclusive to the military.

11. It’s not the norm but there are families where that is the tradition. I had a marine that could trace his family service back to the revolution.

12. It’s also one of the only ways for some kids to go to college. At least without accumulating a massive amount of debt before they’re even old enough to legally drink a beer.

13. I work with military kids and yes, it can be a thing. I will say that it doesn’t seem especially prevalent though; some military parents will even caution against the military.

    I don’t think it’s too different than many other professions. I’ve seen other families where there may be some tradition of being farmers or pastors or teachers or entrepreneurs.

14. Probably. Then again with as large as our population is some family’s probably expect just about anything.

15. There is a new guy at work, who I’m almost certain didn’t realize that military service was voluntary. Dude is a former Marine and has to be in his late 20s, early 30s. From what I’ve gathered he lived a really sheltered life.

16. Shit, pick any career field and you’ll find families based around it.

17. I’m sure there’s some families like that. My cousin, uncle, both grandfathers, their brothers, etc were all in the military, but I was never pressured to join and you couldn’t pay me enough money to join.

18. > Are there some families where it is sort of… just expected… for the kids to serve in the military?

    Lots of families have expectations for their children. In my family, for example, the women have been teachers for many generations.

19. Some, but not many.