I often say "everyone should wait tables once in their lives." I think that encapsulates most of the things people are saying about BOH work, but also includes

I often say "everyone should wait tables once in their lives." I think that encapsulates most of the things people are saying about BOH work, but also includes actually needing to make people happy (I've worked BOH and FOH extensively, and successfully at both; you don't have to make anyone happy from BOH–except chef–to be successful, but FOH you literally depend on it if most of your income is from tips). The reason I agree with the statement about working in a service job as opposed to all of the other examples you've listed is that the lessons learned in a service job are widely applicable to everyday life and interactions with everyday people. No doubt, you will learn a lot about yourself being on the front lines of war, but you can't take those lessons back to deal with the variety of people you'll interact with day to day in normal society. In fact, it may be counterproductive to try that. Likewise, rarely will people need the specific skills required to perform hours-long lifesaving surgery in their day to day life. True, it may come up, but that is extraordinary. You might as well also start building a doomsday bunker in your backyard.