I work in medicine, and one of the hospitals in our system is the VA. I have literally no interest in serving veterans; people who fight in wars for America pretty much stand and act against everything I believe in. It's not necessarily that I think these people don't deserve great healthcare, it's that I don't want to be the one giving it to them. I would much rather spend my time serving people from my community who didn't spend large parts of their lives wrecking other communities.
Sure, some of my patients anywhere are going to be complete assholes. Sure, there are a lot of veterans who weren't involved in combat (but they did directly aid those in combat at least, right?). Idk, is there a perspective I'm not seeing here? Is it wrong for me to be morally opposed to working for the VA?
Absolutely not! I would never ever want to deny someone healthcare (save for MAYBE murderous fascists, but even then I wouldn't make the choice to do it). If I was the only person available to give a veteran healthcare, I would do it in a heartbeat. Nobody deserves to suffer unduly from treatable medical conditions.
I got into medicine because I want to treat people with debilitating conditions. People who have found them in unfortunate circumstances not as a result of their choices but just poor happenstance. I want to help underserved people especially. However, given the option of working in the VA or working in the regular hospital, I think I would choose the patient population that I don't hold such severe grudges against (who wants a healthcare provider who doesn't respect them anyway? I would never intentionally give subpar care, but there are studies that show that our implicit biases do indeed affect the quality of care).
I guess the question I'm grappling with is "should I treat anybody no matter who they are when they walk in the door because healthcare is a right and I am capable of executing their treatment" or "should I deliberately select the patient population I serve because I'm morally opposed to the lifestyle that some people live (with the added risk of retaliation from my superiors)? When I put it that way it starts to sound pretty moralistic. Other people have already pointed out that for many people, being a vet doesn't feel "voluntary," and even for those who do volunteer, many get out due to moral opposition at some point, and I have no way of really knowing who is who.
This thread has given me a lot to think about.
Like other people have said, ultimately it is your decision, I just wanted to help give you a different perspective to help you reason through this quandary. I am not in the medical field nor have I stepped foot in a VA facility, that being said I know a lot of vets who would be dead by their own hand or by the effects they suffered while serving if not for the VA. To challenge oneself is a a noble exercise. I do not know what political ideology you adhere to but Mao talks about not everyone being the same level of Marxist but they are still necessary to the revolution even if they are just 10% Marxist in their behavior. I think of people like Smedley Butler who is a two time medal of honor recipient but went on to criticize the country's use of soldiers as the armed extension of capitalist interest. Like you said you want to help people who are in a position by no fault of their own and given the economic liberation sold to young kids who join the military as a tool for recruitment can we really fault the kid who sees it as their only way out of dire poverty?