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History (and spoilers)
Jean Kirstein lived a normal life. A normal life in his world, which was being constantly threatened by giant humanoid creatures called Titans, that could break into their giant multi-walled city at any time, and destroy their way of life. A hundred years they lived in peace, without a single Titan attack, but this only made humanity complacent, so when the Titans struck in the year 845, they got one hell of a rude awakening. That day a Colossal Titan, standing over 60 meters tall, peered over the southernmost city's outer wall and reminded humanity that they were living on borrowed time. The truth was they were no more than cattle, corralled in a pen. Things got a bit more desperate after that. (Like the government sending off about 80% of the people who did survive the attack to their deaths, because they didn't have enough food to maintain everyone. Yeah, this isn't a happy world.)
Still, Jean wasn't directly affected by the attack. His hometown was part of what was considered 'the interior' before the destruction of the outermost wall, so his way of life wasn't heavily altered, even as a kid. Sure, food was a little scarce and becoming a soldier was now all but mandatory for kids as early as twelve, but joining the military had been his plan from the start. As soon as he turned twelve, two years after the first Titan attack, Jean enlisted in the military, joining the 104th trainee squad.
Jean's dream was always to become a soldier, because when you became a soldier in this world, you got three options at graduation: join the Recon Corps (or Scouting Legion, depending on your translation), the Garrison, or the Military Police Division. The Recon Corps is the division of soldiers whose goal is to advance on the Titanstitle drop, retake the land and fight back in the name of humanity. Sounds heroic, no? Unfortunately, Attack on Titan isn't that kind of series. Because Titans are just too brutal and too numerous, 50% of the Scouting Legion's recruits will die on their first mission. They are told this on their graduation day, and are in fact asked to be ready to die on command, fresh out of training. (Even with their senior members, a 30% casualty rate on one of their missions is considered amazing.) Yeah, Jean wasn't so into that.
Meanwhile, the Garrison maintains the walls and keeps the peace in the outer-walled cities. During the 100 years of peace, they were mostly lazy, out of work cowards who didn't score high enough to get into the Military Police, but weren't stupid enough to join Recon. After the Titans attack, they reprise their roles of defending the cities and manning the stationary cannons that are meant to hold back the Titans in case of a breach in the walls. They are the largest division, and where most trainees end up.
Finally, we have the Military Police Division. Little Jean's greatest dream: to become a soldier in defense of the King, and live a safe, lavish and comfortable life in the innermost walled city, Wall Sina. The Military Police have two tasks; maintain the peace in the richest district in their known world, and protect the King whenever he's in danger. (Protip: he is literally never in danger, that's what the other two walls are for.) They are the most coveted position, since getting into the Military Police basically means that even a commoner can live in the palace and live out the rest of their lives without fear of the Titans. Of course, to even qualify for the Military Police, trainees need to be in the top 10 of their respective squad. On top of that, the only ranked skill that counts is how good a solider is at using their 3-Dimensional Maneuvering Gear, the gas-powered cords, cables and belts that allow humans to fling themselves through the air and kill Titans. And yes, the students most qualified to kill Titans end up as far away from Titans as possible. Something fishy in the system, needless to say. (At the time, Jean didn't care as long as it didn't directly affect him.)
Still, even if you're not in the top ten, you still have to learn to use 3DM Gear; using a complex, gas-powered grappling hook-like mechanism and two ultra-sharp, ultra-light blades, soldiers and trainees fling themselves through the air to kill Titans-- a process that requires incredible precision, since Titans can only be killed by attacking their weak spots behind their necks. (You know, as if flying through the air like gas-powered Spider-Man weren't hard enough.)
In any case, Jean's reasons for wanting to become a soldier were less than heroic. Three years of training later and his loud mouth (he always speaks his mind) and stubborn determination land him in the top 10 of the trainees in his division, ranked 6th (he's actually pretty talented, surprisingly. And he probably studied a lot, this is his childhood dream of having a good life, after all.) Unfortunately for him and the rest of his squadmates, their graduation day is interrupted by the sudden appearance of the Colossal Titan, which leads to another breach in the walls, the first one since the initial attack five years before.
Shit gets real, really fast.
Long story short (because this is already too long,) due to his high rank, Jean is put in charge of a small trainee squad, but the death and destruction around him makes him realize that no matter what he does, people are either going to die from his hesitation or die from his orders. He's fifteen and his fellow trainees aredropping like flies while the Garrison sounds the retreat, and suddenly none of them have enough gas to make it back.
He's not cut out for this. Jean's no idealist-- without a solid plan, he begins to despair. That is, until Mikasa, the girl of his dreams, gives them all a rousing speech-- one he reluctantly follows and manages to inspire his squadmates to do the same. It takes a lot of fighting, and even a few deaths that Jean can't claim weren't his fault, but Jean and the others manage to refuel and return to the Garrison. Maybe he's not so bad at this leadership thing. His buddy Marco did talk about how he'd make a good leader because he was actually pretty weak. Jean became strong through training, sure, but he understood weakness. He knew what it was like to be afraid, and that people weaker than him could look up to him, knowing he understood how they felt.
Oh, but then Marco dies in that battle, too. Off-screen. He isn't even eaten by a Titan, he's just... sliced in half. Dead. In his last moments, Marco was alone, and the only thing that separates him from a sea of nameless corpses is Jean, who identifies the body before it's added to the funeral pyre.
"Which one of these bones was yours, Marco? I can't remember..."
And thus, to make sure Marco's death wasn't for nothing, and because humanity needs people like him, Jean joins the Scouting Legion; not to throw away his life or die in a blaze of glory, but because he's needed, and because he doesn't want to die a nameless death like his closest friend. And he'd never forgive himself if he went on to live the good life while people better and weaker than him die needlessly at the hands of the damned Titans. (He tells his friends he's joining so that he can choose his own path, but that pretty much contradicts his internal monologue after Marco's death, so I call bullshit.)
Still, Jean wasn't directly affected by the attack. His hometown was part of what was considered 'the interior' before the destruction of the outermost wall, so his way of life wasn't heavily altered, even as a kid. Sure, food was a little scarce and becoming a soldier was now all but mandatory for kids as early as twelve, but joining the military had been his plan from the start. As soon as he turned twelve, two years after the first Titan attack, Jean enlisted in the military, joining the 104th trainee squad.
Jean's dream was always to become a soldier, because when you became a soldier in this world, you got three options at graduation: join the Recon Corps (or Scouting Legion, depending on your translation), the Garrison, or the Military Police Division. The Recon Corps is the division of soldiers whose goal is to advance on the Titans
Meanwhile, the Garrison maintains the walls and keeps the peace in the outer-walled cities. During the 100 years of peace, they were mostly lazy, out of work cowards who didn't score high enough to get into the Military Police, but weren't stupid enough to join Recon. After the Titans attack, they reprise their roles of defending the cities and manning the stationary cannons that are meant to hold back the Titans in case of a breach in the walls. They are the largest division, and where most trainees end up.
Finally, we have the Military Police Division. Little Jean's greatest dream: to become a soldier in defense of the King, and live a safe, lavish and comfortable life in the innermost walled city, Wall Sina. The Military Police have two tasks; maintain the peace in the richest district in their known world, and protect the King whenever he's in danger. (Protip: he is literally never in danger, that's what the other two walls are for.) They are the most coveted position, since getting into the Military Police basically means that even a commoner can live in the palace and live out the rest of their lives without fear of the Titans. Of course, to even qualify for the Military Police, trainees need to be in the top 10 of their respective squad. On top of that, the only ranked skill that counts is how good a solider is at using their 3-Dimensional Maneuvering Gear, the gas-powered cords, cables and belts that allow humans to fling themselves through the air and kill Titans. And yes, the students most qualified to kill Titans end up as far away from Titans as possible. Something fishy in the system, needless to say. (At the time, Jean didn't care as long as it didn't directly affect him.)
Still, even if you're not in the top ten, you still have to learn to use 3DM Gear; using a complex, gas-powered grappling hook-like mechanism and two ultra-sharp, ultra-light blades, soldiers and trainees fling themselves through the air to kill Titans-- a process that requires incredible precision, since Titans can only be killed by attacking their weak spots behind their necks. (You know, as if flying through the air like gas-powered Spider-Man weren't hard enough.)
In any case, Jean's reasons for wanting to become a soldier were less than heroic. Three years of training later and his loud mouth (he always speaks his mind) and stubborn determination land him in the top 10 of the trainees in his division, ranked 6th (he's actually pretty talented, surprisingly. And he probably studied a lot, this is his childhood dream of having a good life, after all.) Unfortunately for him and the rest of his squadmates, their graduation day is interrupted by the sudden appearance of the Colossal Titan, which leads to another breach in the walls, the first one since the initial attack five years before.
Shit gets real, really fast.
Long story short (because this is already too long,) due to his high rank, Jean is put in charge of a small trainee squad, but the death and destruction around him makes him realize that no matter what he does, people are either going to die from his hesitation or die from his orders. He's fifteen and his fellow trainees aredropping like flies while the Garrison sounds the retreat, and suddenly none of them have enough gas to make it back.
He's not cut out for this. Jean's no idealist-- without a solid plan, he begins to despair. That is, until Mikasa, the girl of his dreams, gives them all a rousing speech-- one he reluctantly follows and manages to inspire his squadmates to do the same. It takes a lot of fighting, and even a few deaths that Jean can't claim weren't his fault, but Jean and the others manage to refuel and return to the Garrison. Maybe he's not so bad at this leadership thing. His buddy Marco did talk about how he'd make a good leader because he was actually pretty weak. Jean became strong through training, sure, but he understood weakness. He knew what it was like to be afraid, and that people weaker than him could look up to him, knowing he understood how they felt.
Oh, but then Marco dies in that battle, too. Off-screen. He isn't even eaten by a Titan, he's just... sliced in half. Dead. In his last moments, Marco was alone, and the only thing that separates him from a sea of nameless corpses is Jean, who identifies the body before it's added to the funeral pyre.
"Which one of these bones was yours, Marco? I can't remember..."
And thus, to make sure Marco's death wasn't for nothing, and because humanity needs people like him, Jean joins the Scouting Legion; not to throw away his life or die in a blaze of glory, but because he's needed, and because he doesn't want to die a nameless death like his closest friend. And he'd never forgive himself if he went on to live the good life while people better and weaker than him die needlessly at the hands of the damned Titans. (He tells his friends he's joining so that he can choose his own path, but that pretty much contradicts his internal monologue after Marco's death, so I call bullshit.)