Respectable conservatives are not guided by reasons. Modern conservative policy is purely a matter of blind worship. Today's so-called conservative worships liberals. Liberals make policy, define the question, and then conservatives debate the question strictly within the guidelines set by liberals. They want respectability, and for them respectability is defined by liberals.
Conservatives also worship institutions.
The only proper, historical American attitude toward the armed forces is that they are a necessary evil. Americans have always kept the standing military as small as possible. We have just had a period of national emergency lasting from 1939 to the present day, when World War II and the Cold War required our expanding the military and our worldwide commitments to previously unimaginable levels. One could say that, after two generations in which the military has been expanded and bloated beyond previous imaginings, it is natural that we have forgotten the traditional place of the military in our society. The problem with that logic is that it ignores what conservatism is all about.