Same ship, different service. The safety net affords me the ability to find what I really want to do without tying my life to a single job or place.
I also think that it can be brought to other citizens through other community activities. Why don’t we offer similar incentives to teachers? 10yr of teaching in exchange for UBI. Or doctors. Or rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure.
I’m guessing that your VA/service income doesn’t just go straight to savings either. A lot of it goes right back into the economy through purchasing and associated taxes paid on those things. At least mine does.
The US military is the largest socialist organization in the world and I wish they would extend that to the rest of its citizens without the downside of PTSD, death, and a lifetime of physical and mental ailments.