The only good thing about being a vet is that everyone who wants to join has questions that I can answer with a grave warning against joining. It's credentialism for chuds so I can hit 'em with the ole War is a Racket, while for the naïve and idealistic it's a chance to explain that the military is a giant suicide/sexual assault/cancer factory that eats the people it doesn't kill. If their civvie ass still wants to pretend they'll be Audie Murphy, I can just tell them a worse story about how criminally dysfunctional the military is and how stupid the wars we've lost are.