Serving Your Country

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I wonder (at this moment in time) what it is that makes people want to serve their country....especially in countries where it's completely voluntary

All sorts of reasons, I'd imagine.

But I know that in some families it's almost like tradition. I guess if you've got ancestors who had successful service careers and are celebrated for it then you might want to follow in their footsteps.

A more practical reason might be financial. I have a relative who joined the navy right out of college. He was immediately earning a good salary which he couldn't spend because he was on a ship a lot of the time and all his living expenses were paid so by the time he got out he'd saved a big chunk of money. That beats going to university and getting 30k in the hole before you've earned a penny.

But that was in a time of relative peace so he wasn't in much danger of being deployed. I don't think you could say that now.

If called, I will go. They aren't at all likely to call me at my age, though.