Hi Adam,
I'm a vet and have a question for you about that.
re:

This critical experience showed him (you) that war is a racket and led him (you) to deeply question his (your) most cherished statist beliefs.

• I've seen a lot of vets really struggle with being a vet after they find out "war is a racket."
  • Knowing that takes away the feelings of honor and valor most felt when serving.
    • IMHO, Just because "they" lied to us to get us to serve, doesn't mean we served with any less honor or valor.
• On the other hand, there are those who served for their own self-interest and could care less about war being a racket. They just want to play war video games in real life.

I personally do not regret my decision to serve.

• I received some great training, met some great people, saw parts of the world I never could have.
  • I do regret a bit that my service really didn't have anything to do with national security. Meaning we would have been just as secure without me or the sub I served on. As I see no direct threat to our nation that was thwarted by us being out there doing our thing...
    • "They" tell us we "won the cold war" (I served around 1980ish) but that pretty much was just another made up dragon "they" created to get guys and gals like you and me to "serve."

Do you have any message for the vets?

• there is a vet group here on Steemit who use a discord channel ran by @guiltyparties. You can message him for a link to the discord server, if you ever want to chat a bit with veterans...