I think the US military could be used to accomplish so much more than policing the world. Unfortunately, using the military to train the cast outs is not feasible.
A good friend of mine served in the marine corpse with a tour in Afghanistan. He's also one of the most liberal people I personally know. He's doing fine post-service, but he chronicles it pretty well:
For those who come back from active deployment, they're treated like heroes regardless of what they accomplished. For some, that goes straight to their head. Those without families amass a small fortune (in their eyes) while deployed. And when they get back and people find out they're recent veterans, they're treated well. For most though, they squander what they've claimed and the treatment lasts about 6 months. Now they've quit the job they had, they have no money, and they've developed no practical civilian work skills. That includes benefits given under the GI bill for small business loans, vo-tech training, or cash to attend college.
The sad truth of the matter is that the demand for general labor (regardless of veteran status) decreases every year in the US. I don't think it should be a f- those guys mentality, but when the preference is squandered and they fall back into the general population, what can we really do?