Tech titans should value military service

Leave it to USA Today to produce drivel like this. From the article, "But that misses an important point. It’s the intangible qualities of military experience that are the most valuable. If you survive the Army’s Ranger School or a year of combat in Anbar province, Iraq, you have probably demonstrated a level of intestinal fortitude that goes beyond what is required to roll out the latest iPhone app."

Aside from the fact that the above is laughably specious, what exactly are those intangibles? One important intangible is that the military places a tremendous emphasis on rule-orientation and institutional rigidity. I can hardly think of less desirable qualities in most employees, especially in a startup.