2. Responsibility
There are few better places to learn that your actions have consequences than the military. In combat, “consequences” can be life or death.
That gives veterans an advantage over civilian employees (especially younger ones) who haven’t ever been in a position where their screw-ups can cause real and lasting harm.
It’s not that everyone who hasn’t been in the military doesn’t get that mistakes can be a problem — but they don’t have the same ingrained unwillingness to fail, even in minor tasks, because failing in a minor task has never meant life or death for them.
And to be fair, it often doesn’t in the military either. If you don’t get your boots properly polished in time for inspection, no one’s going to die. But you’re still going to get the ass-chewing of your life — because the commanding officer knows that attention to detail is going to matter at some point, and wants to make an ingrained habit of it — and that teaches a strength of habit that most civilians don’t have.
As a result, veterans tend to be people who can be trusted to do a task as carefully as it needs to be done, and to get it right the first time. And if they can’t get it done right, they’re much more likely to ask for assistance or take extra time than to half-ass it and risk something important failing down the line.
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