The people on those rooftops d*mn well paid taxes so the military could buy the aircraft. They did so in order to enable the military to protect their lives and liberties. It would be pretty sad then if a pilot capable to doing so was prevented from using these aircraft to save American taxpayers' lives.
I'm glad they did it - however - you need to take into consideration a few things. Suppose they had damaged the aircraft while running their unauthorized mission? Now you've got one or two birds down that could have been used later on. Maintenance teams that could have been doing quick turns would be tied up making repairs - that would limit the number of sorties you could fly. Suppose they crashed during the unauthorized mission? How many other personnel and aircraft are you going to pull off other missions in order to support a recovery and investigation?
Odds are that the vast majority of those rescued were net tax recipients not net tax payers.