I've long felt the same - the military used to be this, used to do this - its part of why we had such an era of tranquility politically post WWII - you had a large number people with a shared experience who came back from war, and who were willing to work together.

I've long believed in some form of mandatory national service, just to encourage this - it would also decrease the risk for military adventurism if the military was a broader cross-section of society.