I was still a dumb lib back then. But my radicalization has really peeled opened my eyes to my part in continuing colonialism in Africa and imperialism in the Middle East.
But if I had never served, a lot of the understanding I have would not exist. Or how the military functions and how fucked up and clueless everyone is. Or how so many are working class being recruited for the basic conditions we as leftists want for everyone. Housing, job, sense of purpose, food, etc.
Just hard tackling all of this stuff and thoughts sometimes.
When a society idolizes people who do something, a lot of people will end up doing that thing.
Morality aside, it's entirely predictable that people join the military (or become police, or business owners, or landlords) and it's possible to be against those things while recognizing this fact.
Rather than pretending that acting in line with society's expectations is evidence of being a fundamentally bad person, we need to (a) focus more energy on lauding people who do defy those expectations and (b) point out how wrong the expectations themselves are.