If you want to support those brave service men and women, it's better to support better medical care for veterans. It's bizarre that that's been such a long running problem in such a warlike country. But that's something that takes care of the actual people involved rather than the questionable corporate/political motives behind some wars.
2. Tech workers help pay a lot of that tab by working in productive sectors that generate the profits needed to keep the war industry going.
3. A very tiny percentage of the service members are ever deployed. Of those, only a tiny percentage ever see combat. Those that don't see combat are paid very well for their time. Why does this matter? Because $686 BILLION pays for a lot of software engineers.
IMO: if the military needs more technical expertise, then:
1. Get good management! Open up leadership positions to non-officers or, god forbid, civilians. No more officers who majored in Theology at bible colleges or History at an academy running "Cyber" teams. The business world stopped hiring blank slate MBAs to manage software projects a LONG time ago. Time for the military to catch up.
2. Especially in the Army, stop running pointless rural jobs programs and reallocate that headcount to salaries for skilled professionals in more productive locales.
We're spending 680 BILLION employing enormous numbers of people to run around in circles (sometimes literally). There's more than enough money to pay people for their work and more than enough patriotic talent willing to take the jobs. What's needed is competent management and headcount.