I think it's natural for children to emulate their elders. And it really wasn't that long ago that the norm was for children to follow in their parents' footsteps. (this was especially limiting for females, because so many cultures left on the planet only allowed females to be animated masturbation appliances, whelping machines, and lactating units.)
Dad was cobbler - his sons became cobblers. Or at the very least, the eldest did. Children learned their parents' trade - their parents' skills to survive.
Once upon a time, those skills included hunting mammoth...learning where the best berries and medicinal plants were. Nowadays, it's learning how to keep from getting knifed on the way home from work. When I was growing up, most small businesses included "& sons" in their name.
It would never have occured to any of my brothers to not join the military. Dad was not only in the military during the whole of their childhoods (and mine), we mostly lived on military posts. Our whole world was military. Good lord, until I was ten, all the adult males in my world were addressed, 'sergeant.' They all wore fatigues and flight suits when they weren't in dress uniforms. They were all adorned in stripes and ribbons...it's all i knew...all my brothers knew.
It's an entire subculture.
I hope you do keep your kids away from it. It's a dysfunctional culture. It's propped up on an absolute totalitarian system. authoritarianism to the extreme. do as i say WHEN i say it. and NEVER EVER question what i say. EVER.
My children did not join the military. It stopped with my generation. Thank god.
editing here:
yes. i did derive satisfaction. i did quite well for the time i was in. i was a community health nurse, and on the FACMT team. (I helped investigate child abuse cases.) I loved my job. and quite frankly, i loved wearing the uniform. but then, i was socialized to, ey? upbringing...it's hard to escape all that hard-wiring.