If you were going to prison for more than a decade and were able to enlist in the military for high risk situations but half the time would you?

I would too, but I also seriously considered joining the armed forces out of high school too. I decided not to after talking with my brother, who was still in at the time. The reason we (meaning the United States) don't use those kinds of units - undesirables, prisoners, etc - is that it's not the nature of our force composition. We're an all-volunteer force now (unless they decide to bring back the draft like tyrants), and that comes with certain benefits and downsides. The primary downside is that you have a smaller number of people in your forces that you would if you had some level of conscription. But on the upside, you tend to have high morale, dedicated, and disciplined soldiers instead of people who don't really want to be there. If you introduced prisoners to warfare in that kind of system, it would dilute the water, so to speak. Maybe there comes a time where that's viable, but it's just not how we organize or manage our forces here. EDIT: I actually missed the "high-risk situations" part. I read it as just being a regular grunt or something. I would probably take prison in that case. I rather like being alive.