ABSTRACT
Military service is an important life-course experience for those who serve. For those who do not, depending on the historical context, lack of military service may also be important. This chapter addresses two fundamental aspects of life-course development with regard to military service. 1 One focus is the consideration of what events or social characteristics of the individual motivate one to pursue a trajectory that includes military service. A second focus centers on how individuals differ in their life-course trajectories during their military service based on different individual social characteristics (e.g., race and ethnicity, gender, social class, and sexual orientation) and the structural characteristics of the military. This application of the life-course perspective includes an examination of how military service acts as a mechanism affecting individuals’ life-course trajectories after military service. In other words, this chapter examines who serves, why they serve, and what effect military service has on individuals both while they are in uniform and once they have separated from the military. Our particular focus is on the early-adult life course and the transition to adulthood.
