No sir you are not missing anything. This plays a huge factor in the stories. The Wall is the most important place in the world with winter coming, however the rest of the southern areas have pretty much forgotten about it. The creatures from the north have been forgotten about for the most part and people believe that the only worry are the bandits beyond the wall. The problem now comes that no man wants to volunteer to give up everything to take the black and guard the wall and so it comes down to men whose lives are already pretty much over due to crimes committed or due to heritage.
So yes the most important guard is also the least funded and least joined. I guess you can see some of the dangers in this.
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