I enlisted in 92 after getting let go from the power company - during that recession that we didn't have... I went through boot camp and "A" school with guys that had degrees - intelligent, skilled, mature, and responsible people. People that enlisted because they wanted or needed to. I hate to say it but I'm kind of looking forward to that part of it again. There was a definite decline in the quality of people we were getting starting around 1998 as the economy was on fire. Standards were lowered, bonuses were created to get people to simply enlist. I realize it's a second chance for some with criminal records but that hasn't been the case for the majority of those...
There have been other changes over the years, other peaks and troughs - that's life and the world for you.
Anyways, a "four year hitch" isn't such a bad way to ride out this economy - like SF said: it'll add another arrow to your quiver, plus you'll see some of the world.

"The first quality of a soldier is constancy in enduring fatigue and hardship. Courage is only the second. Poverty, privation, and want are the school of the good soldier."
- Napoleon

</end my two cents>