I know a few women whose sons joined the Marines after about a year of drifting aimlessly after high school. None of these mothers were happy about the sons' decisions. But by the time each kid graduated from boot camp, every one of the moms was gushing about how proud they were of their sons, how grown up they had become, were these even the same kids, etc. The military can be a positive experience and general society tends to lose sight of that.