Can your wife/husband have debt prior to marriage and still enlist in the military?

Why not? I wasn’t aware that the military checked your outstanding debt before enlistment, or made it a condition of acceptance.

You may have a problem getting a clearance and, because of that, certain jobs will be off limits to you, but you can still join.

@gtreyger or @Lothloriengaladriel Why does the military care about prior debts?

Military doesn’t really care about prior debts. They do care about a security clearance. If you are seriously in debt, you’ll be more susceptible to exploitation. Everyone has a price, and a price of a guy with a huge debt is much lower than someone, whose finances are in order. Just like I said previously, the military will allow you to join, but without clearance there is no access to classified information, so the job list will be limited.

On the other hand, if there was a prior debt, and it is now paid off, you’ll have no issues.

@gtreyger Oh okay makes sense