Well, THIS veteran does, (I’m technically a combat veteran, as I served in a combat zone, but, I was a computer geek ferchristsakes, I refuse to claim that designation when there are plenty of other folks who were actually toting rifles on a daily basis). A lot of other vets I talk to who are politically active, if not running for office, have that as a pretty high issue as well. As far as Worth it? I don’t think that was @Quinquennial’s point, more of a silver lining to a dark cloud, rather than providing some kind of justification.
That said, there’s something to Jefferson’s quote regarding the tree of liberty, and, without some massive sacrifice to accompany the experience, or more generally to serve as a litmus test for those who claim to put service to the country first, you’ve got no way to sort out, even in a coarse, poorly accurate way, those who have such traits and those who simply claim to for personal benefit.
While much of his work had authoritarian overtones I don’t agree with, even back in high-school, when the idea that future me might serve in the military would have been laughable, Heinlein’s concept in Starship Troopers that only those that have done some kind of civil service term can even vote, let alone run for office, made a fair quantity of sense to me. At some point, a crucible to test the worth of claims to want to serve makes a whole lot of sense.
