I dont know the exact answer as to the question "Where Soldiers Come From", but I do know where many of them have been going lately...

...the HOSPITAL.

...for exercising their 1st Amendment rights lately at various Occupy movements around the country.

SICKENING!!!

I agree. My parents are college educated, but lower middle class. I have zero athletic talent, am smart but definitely not at the top scoring SAT range, my parents had just enough to not be considered need base but way too little to fund my education, and I am not a member of any sort of religion/group/whatever. The military was the only way I could realistically afford an education at a decent college.