My guess is he did it for the attention. IMO justice was served.
I still remember going home on leave as an E2. Wore my dress blues to church and could not figure out what the old guy was doing holding the door for me.
I frequently fly as part of my job. As often as I possibly can, when I see someone in uniform, I go up to them, shake their hand and thank them for their service. It is the least that I can do.
Once I was fortunate enough to see a senior NCO return from a long tour. You could tell by the family greeting that he had been gone for some time. I took only 2 min to shake his hand but you could see in all three kids faces that dad must be someone extra special for a stranger just to walk up and say thank you.
“Wore my dress blues to church and could not figure out what the old guy was doing holding the door for me.”
That would still happen in SOME parts of the country today.