Serving in the military does more harm than good.

Thanks to F-16 for his impressive opening argument. In this round, I'll show the primary advantages of enlistment and, due to round structure, show how they outweigh in the next.C1: Economic benefitsA. Up-front moneyThe Congressional Budget Office offers the most direct statistic: In 2010, the median salary and cash compensation of military members equaled around $50,000 (1). This pay increases as the member moves up in the rankings. For instance, military officers make well over $100,000. 50,000 may not seem like that much. However, living in the barracks means you have no house payment or utility payments. This is usually true because most people who join are teens who are just getting out of high school, and as such don't own a house yet. The money saved from not needing a house is immense. Also, military pay is tax free, so the actual money made is extremely high. B. Indirect moneyThe military offers significant if not entire coverage for medical care, child care, spousal care, retirement, and others (2). By assigning a monetary value to these benefits, these indirect payments literally DOUBLE the amount of money the soldier has access to:"In earlier work on military pay, CBO estimated that the combination of noncash and deferred benefits is about equal to regular military compensation. In other words, the value of noncash and deferred benefits adds 100 percent to cash compensation."So after direct pay and benefits, the average solder makes 100,000 dollars a year, without tax or house payment. My linked source explains that military members are actually paid more than government employees. This is a huge advantage of joining. C. Specific advantagesThe military will pay for some or most of your college tuition after you are discharged (3). This is an immense benefit considering that college costs run in the tens of thousands of dollars, and thats just for one year. Under the health insurance plan TRICARE, all active military members will have any medical problems paid for (4), and other benefits can be pursued after discharge. You might think the risk of being injured in battle is what mandates this. However, this is merely a stereotype; the vast majority of soldiers don't go anywhere near hot zones. The military offers three different retirement plans to servicemen once they're finished working. The most common plan is Final Pay, which gives retirees monthly pay equivalent to the amount they made while they were in service, times 2.5% for each year served (5). C2: EmploymentVeterans get jobs before other people. The USFG offers "Veteran's preference" to soldiers who are applying for federal employment (6). They will be looked at before everyone else. Government work gives several benefits in itself, especially in tax breaks, so this is another opportunity to increase quality of life.In general, vets get hired over the average citizen. The University of Phoenix writes that servicemen can easily get into the business field over others because they have been trained to lead and make high-risk decisions (7). GiJobs has a comprehensive list of the top 2% of franchises that are considered "Military friendly". Several of these companies who hire them at a high frequency are At&T, T-Mobile, Lowes, Bank of America, U-Haul, Walmart, etc (8). This should show that companies in all types of business look to hire people with military service. This is obviously because employers know that servicemen have been trained in discipline and leadership, and as such will make efficient workers.C3: Personal improvementsA. Physical healthBasic training brings the full physical experience. Weightlifting, push ups, endurance runs, and obstacle courses are regular occurrences throughout the military career. These exercises greatly improve strength, endurance, and physical health in general.To make it through basic training, members are required to pass a fitness test. Needless to say that it requires extreme durability and strength. While the training in boot camp and the fitness test can be difficult, 90% of servicemen still make it through (9). So when joining the military, there's a 90% chance that you'll gain excellent physical conditioning. B. ExperienceJoining the military puts one on the fast-track to their dream job. After basic training, soldiers sign up for one of several hundred different jobs in anywhere from aviation, computer tech, mechanics, law enforcement, logistics, engineering, medical, and others (10). This benefit is particularly useful because you actually get years of practical experience in the field of work. When they actually get out in the real world, they can tell the job interviewer that they've done this work before, which means that military members are more likely to succeed in life and do so faster than the average citizen.C4: Most people who join the military don't regret itVietnam veterans have been through hell. Yet according to the Chicago Tribute, 91% of them are glad they joined the military (11). While modern war scenarios may not be the ideal environment, they're probably still better than the horrors and massive-casualty battles of Vietnam. Therefore, its reasonable to suggest that modern members regret joining at an even lower rate.While we may try and decide whether the pros of the military outweigh the harms, some part of this must be left to the person who is actually in that position. The fact that soldiers in the Vietnam War don't regret joining, despite the horrors of those battles, goes to show that the benefits did outweigh 91% of the time in their eyes. I again thank my opponent and await his next round.1. http://bitURL.net.... 5)2. p. 73. http://bitURL.net...4. http://bitURL.net...5. http://bitURL.net...6. http://bitURL.net...7. http://bitURL.net...8. http://bitURL.net...9. http://bitURL.net...10. http://www.military.net...11. http://bitURL.ne...