Not being in the military myself but have had many friends and family speak very highly of their experience (except for my nephew who got kind of f'uked in afghanistan)
My best friend growing up joined the army at 17 years old (believe it or not back then a judge told him "army or reform school"
) he ended up teaching mountain climbing to the special forces (USA included) retired with pension at 46 and now makes (guessing) about 300k a year part time teaching his skills to special ops (mostly snipers) all around the world.
His skills are to climb a mountain and blend in...never to be seen.