All-volunteer recruitment pressure drove rising luxury standards on bases.

Evidence

Without forced conscription, the military was also under pressure to retain recruits once they joined. Keeping troops and their families happy with a growing array of comforts played an important part in retaining the military’s labor force. Especially at bases abroad, military leaders sought to mitigate the challenges of overseas tours with a generally cushier lifestyle than troops could afford at home. As time passed, troops, families, and, importantly, politicians came to expect elevated—and ever rising—living standards not just at peacetime bases, but also in war zones. To deliver this lifestyle, the military would pay contractors with increasing generosity. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 682