Actually the miltary in general is a gamble of economics versus safety. You, when joining, are setting yourself up for discounted education, building a financial nest egg early on and an early low overhead life while accumlating some money. The gamble is that you won't be put in harms way or injured working a dangerous job. Soilders cannot sue the goverment (nor can anyone else). So you have the risk your livelyhood versus a strong financial start at a tender age.
The goverment has marketed the financial gains for a long time and they are very important things to be gained...as that strong finacial start can have a long term impact on ones livelyhood.......The question becomes, given the job you sign up for what are the risks and can you feel good about this trade off given your occupation in the armed forces.