I agree with you in general, my problem is with the moralistic framing. But largely I think the conclusion is the same. It's an important distinction, though, for acute or other circumstances where a moralistic framing and a materialist framing have different conclusions.

Moralistic framing of this is saying veterans are a lost cause because of past action / sin. Materialist framing would say veterans might be a lost cause because they don't have much revolutionary potential as a demographic, in my opinion, due to a variety of material and cultural influences.

But if somehow veterans as a demographic did have revolutionary potential, it would be important to recognize this and capitalize on it, rather than letting moralism cloud our judgement. Before the draft was abolished, for example, there was less selection for ideological purity, meaning a larger subsection of the demographic might be receptive to anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist sentiment. But I'm skeptical that the "poverty draft" has enough of a similar effect, even among veteran minorities. It may still be a useful long-term goal to see if we can come up with effective strategies to radicalize soldiers/veterans.