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?
What would you think of someone who joined a gang for upward mobility, but didn't personally kill anyone? Or hell, what would you think of someone who joined a gang as a minor, did kill someone, but now deeply regrets it, and actively wants to make sure that others aren't sucked into that world?
There's a real contradiction between thinking the way we treat criminals is horrible and writing off veterans as irredeemable.
I appreciate you pointing this comparison out, this gives me a lot of perspective about veterans in general and how I view them.