Do you think American soldiers are put on too high of a pedestal

[pocaracas]

Okay, now seriously... let's break it down.

For people who's job requires them to move to a different location (not of their choosing) every few years,

Why is it that way?
Do people who join know upfront what they're getting themselves into?

to get sent away from their wives and children for a year at a time to some of the worst parts of the world to risk their lives,

Here in Portugal, they would send the young kids... predictable result: population depletion. Idiots.

Anyway, why are they sent to those places?
Why are american military required in those places?
What were the people in those places doing before the 1700's?!
Why are those places now considered "worst parts of the world"?

Do the people who join know upfront what they're getting themselves into?

and to be told to put their job above everything else....

All bosses are like that.
Workaholics obey that mantra.
Normal people do what they're paid to do and then go home.... or they should.

for having to do all that, they get paid extremely shitty.

What?! the US military pays poorly??
How?!
Don't they get like half the federal budget?
Where is the money going?!

Do the people who join know upfront what they're getting themselves into?

That's pretty much the most demanding and dangerous job a person can have in this country.

How about Detroit PD?
Heck, any police or sheriff department?
How about astronaut?
Border control?
Mining?

They should be getting paid much more for what they do. Their salary is an insult, really, considering what them and their families get put through. That's why it's called "service."

Around here, lots of jobs are services. And most people consider their salaries an insult. It is!
People who earn salaries work more than what they earn, because companies are not (usually) pro-bono... profit is a requirement.