Why do so many people in the military have useless degrees?

I don’t think an English degree is useless. Have you even seen how some of our senior enlisted leaders write. Young officers too. So what degrees do you see as not being useless? My daughter has an electrical engineering degree and is an artillery officer. My History degree got me a one way ticket to flight school. The army thrives in diversity. We don’t put all the square pegs in the square holes.

For the same reason so many civilians have useless degrees.

They go to college with no idea of what they want to do in life, and they've never had to bust their hump in a hardworking skilled trades job, or done factory work. Then someone tells them that a degree in Romance Languages, or Philosophy, or Art Appreciation is their ticket (for maybe 1% in those studies it is.)

Best thing my Dad ever did for his two boys. At age 14 we had to start paying room and board, buy our own cloths, school supplies, and entertainment. I never drove a car that belonged to Dad, and Dad did not pay my auto insurance.

Back then there weren't many jobs in Tucson for healthy juvenile boys during the summer, that weren't essentially "sweating your ass off in the red hot Arizona sun. By the time I was 18, I already had a skilled trades job, and growing side business of my own, with 3 part-time employees, that would have provided a respectable blue collar lifestyle for me, a wife and a couple of kids." Fortunately, I didn't have the wife or the kids yet. But I knew I wanted more than the red hot Arizona sun.

PS Dad invested the money, and gave it to us on our 18th birthday. Then, he gave us notice that we had one week to move out after HS graduation.

Not just in the eyes of our Army but the eyes of our society as well, a degree puts you above your peers without one, regardless of what its in. In my opinion, this happens because a degree shows a dedication to something and the base skill level that comes with completing a college course. I have my first degree and I am working on my second at this very moment. I cannot explain the time management skills that I have sharpened and learned from doing this. I juggle being a recruiter full time, a family with two babies, a side business, friendships and my college all at once. Doing so and being successful teaches extreme time management. That is a trait that any leader at any level should have. Simply just one example, but IMO that is why. Its more than a degree, its a commitment to bettering yourself and being a soldier past the typical 9:00 to 5:00 mindset.