E.R. Campbell said:
I'm with CDN Aviator; in a long (35+ years) career I met a lot of people who joined for a lot f reasons. What mattered, to me, was why some stayed and some didn't. Some of the best soldiers I ever knew joined for reasons quite unrelated to patriotism or military professionalism and all that; some of the people I was most happy to see out the door joined because they wanted to be professional soldiers or serve their country or some such thing.
Me? I joined as an act of adolescent rebellion. I'm not sure who was more shocked, me or the army, when I turned out to be an OK soldier. The army, for me, was "fun" and, when offered the chance, I re-engaged and then agreed to give officer training a try; the army remained, mostly, "fun" for all 35+ years. I'm glad I joined and I'm glad I stayed in; I'm glad the army wasn't worried about my motives for joining.