Feature Photo Provided By: Vermillion Photo Blog – Teenagers and young adults are recruited for the military. According to the photographer, the future soldiers are highly motivated with big dreams. 

Going to college after high school can seem like an eternal hallway, where you never reach the end. Not every teen has simple access to the potentially huge cost college can bring. However, one alternative that many teens look towards to pay for college is the military.

Whether it would be the Army, Navy, Airforce, or Marines, there are plenty of options for teens to serve in order to pay for college. Imagine if that alternative was gone, fractured, or changed. College would be simply unobtainable for many teens, including myself. For the youth of our country and their success, the military budget should not be lowered.

Before you call me a warmonger, our highly budgeted military is actually a necessity for peace and prosperity. The United States spends a huge $598 billion on its defense budget, more than the military budget of the next 14 highest countries combined. Despite the fact that we spend such a large amount of money for our military is necessary for the prosperity of our country. Our high military budget keeps us involved with the world and keeps war off our borders and on our enemies borders. With the possible threat of the Russian Federation becoming increasingly prevalent and tensions in the Middle East, a high military budget keeps Americans safe.

Yes, the astronomical amount of money that we spend on our military could be used for things such as social services or education, potentially decreasing poverty and giving money to those who need it. But even dropping our budget by 10% would result in a large loss of the jobs from the around 1.3 million Americans that are on active duty. Not only this, but the jobs that produce firearms, vehicles, ships, and more for the U.S. military, as well as the many military personnel off duty.

In fact, according to the Center For American Progress, raising the military budget would reduce unemployment and better the economy. While war can possibly end in costing a country a large amount of money, war is not necessarily bad for the economy at all. Increasing military personnel and giving people jobs in the production of armaments, clothing, and transportation would heavily decrease unemployment and give people paying jobs without the time of extensive education.

The military is also an appealing option for someone wanting to go to college, but can’t afford the high costs of education.

Serving in the military means that someone can work for their college education while also serving their country. Lowering the military budget would also reduce the likely chance that someone would have that opportunity.

“Big deal”, you may say. But if you’re one of the 45 million Americans living in poverty in the U.S. according to the Huffington Post, the military becomes one of the best options for someone who wants to make a living and bring themselves out of poverty. And is that not what the American Dream is all about?

In the end, lowering our military budget would have a huge effect on our economy, jobs, and unemployment. It would even have a large effect on high school students who want to go to college, but can not because they are stuck in poverty. It would even increase the probability that war becomes evident on our borders — something that hasn’t happened in recent memory.

Instead, our country should look to somewhere else to lower our national spending or raise our intake; Such as, cracking on tax evasions as six out of eight of the richest men in the world are American. We should focus on this, instead of hurting Americans that are simply trying to work for college or bringing themselves out of poverty.