the explicitly-expressed patriotic values of the USAF are different than the actual values of killing brown people in service of capitalism. but the oaths and propaganda is largely about the explicit stuff. this type of thing appeals to

• new guys who believe the hype
• old guard who (somehow) believe wholeheartedly in the official values about “defending from enemies foreign and domestic”. as they discovered stuff that wasn’t that, they thought that their job was to reform the institution into congruence with its stated values. Now they may be despairing of the possibility