Military service would seem to build team and interpersonal skills. Embers a work ethic centered around mission completion. These skills increase as one ascends in rank to include planning skills, logistical awareness, and the big one that civilians don’t understand, leadership.
One would hope. But sometimes it just enables people incapable of taking initiative in anything. They join the military because they want to wait around for orders.
Those who sit around simply waiting for orders to follow end up being the cannon fodder. Those who take initiative get promoted and eventually are the ones giving the orders.
In Canada, one of the biggest problems a veteran has is the lack of recognition of the qualifications they have received during their time in the service. We may be fully qualified to drive a tractor trailer unit with air brakes but have to requalify for a civilian license in order to get a job as a long haul trucker. The same goes for any of the trades.
I spent 3 years at the Canadian equivalent of an E-6 attached to a government, non-military agency doing the exact same job as my civilian counterparts. And doing it better than most of them. Yet, I cannot work there as a civilian because (and only because) I don't have a 4 year degree from a university. The 12 years of working in the field prior to being assigned to said agency and my 3 years of outstanding work there mean nothing to their HR folks.
Regarding veterans "scheming" the system as one poster had put forth citing a guy who spent the Vietnam war in the battalion HQ motor pool claiming PTSD, combat is not the only place that can cause PTSD. I personally know a former Canadian "service" man who was medically released from the Canadian Forces with PTSD caused by bullying. The quotes are because the guy was a musician which in the Canadian military is a specific trade and all they do is play music and pretend they can march on occasion. That said, he reported his superiors for drinking on duty and was subsequently harassed and bullied until he could take it no longer.
To answer Lois' original question -- should veterans be considered a privileged class? Yes. Veterans are individuals who (in Canada at least) volunteered to put their life on the line to protect the rights and freedoms that way too many take for granted. If the veteran suffered any type of injury, physical and/or mental, the country should take care of them. If a business wants to extend a discount to veterans as a thank you for your service (or as a business ploy), that's up to the business. And veterans should take advantage of that.