This article explores the ways in which military constructions of gender intersect with academic ones. Its focus is to connect military discourses of duty, honour and service before self with academic ones of commitment and productivity. As such, it engages in an institutional analysis of the gendered organizations of the military and academia and the associated implications for lifelong learning and education. First, I discuss how, despite resistance from countless educators, corporatism and militarism have come to influence many forms of lifelong learning and higher education. Then, I detail the ways in which both the military and academia, with their unique purposes, are gendered organizations, requiring inordinate dedication and commitment to institutional ends. Finally, I conclude that educators must continue to recognize, problematize and challenge gendered discourses that privilege militarism in higher and lifelong education.