No safety net is a hard thing to do. I know many don't think military service is a benefit, but it does provide for a safety net. After military service I had no safety net, and was in Alaska wondering how I got there what I was doing there and if I could really live there. It was a cold, frozen lonely place compared to my time in Hawaii, and from growing up in California.
My family and my Military service taught me a life lesson, a lesson of independence. The nets were gone now lying on the ground if I was going to fall it was going to be one hell of a hard landing. I survived those first two winters, and still am surviving them again.
Sometimes things just happen. For me home ownership was the affirmation that I had truly become a fully independent person.
There are lots of lessons from military service. In Finland it is compulsory for men to serve a period, though some are choosing civil service instead. I think in general, it has been a benefit for the country, though at the same time, there are some drawbacks as it probably aids the conformity mindset too. Finns are often pretty practical at a physical level at least.
Alaska must be a little different in culture to Hawaii or California? :D