You're right, the biggest employer in the US which guaranteed a job to the majority of applicants regardless of qualifications is not a welfare program.
You mean soldiers? Those soldiers aren't from the states where the base is. Almost all of them are transferred there - and then out again as they are rotated. Do you know how military bases work?
Any contractors hired get jobs, if they are locally hired, then great. But they also pay taxes.
How is any of that welfare??