I believe we often automatically associate the higher level of the officer corps as being conservative just because they are military. That may be a mistake on our part.
If I remember correctly, Barry the Luo removed a lot of generals and replaced them with social justice monkeys.
How many veterans, when they enter the political world, go hard Left? Every single one.
I personally knew one kid during my downrange trip - Maryland National Guard, O-2 formerly an E-4 (a 90-day wonder), a PhD in PoliSci and reminded everyone about it, bragged he was angling for a job in the State Department and his ARNG time was simply a resume bullet point. That was 15 years ago now; the little bassturd probably made good on his plans.
And they are/were not "neocons" - they were/are Marxists. Doctor Zhivago, indeed.