Well, its real, main purpose is to provide a gravy train to its various first-tier stakeholders (elected representatives, and white collar defense contractors).

Well, its real, main purpose is to provide a gravy train to its various first-tier stakeholders (elected representatives, and white collar defense contractors). As a side effect, it creates a lot of blue collar jobs, also -- but these are of secondary importance (i.e. they don't wag the hound nearly as much as the first tier). After that its purpose seems to be to make Americans feel "awesome" and "safe", in approximately equal measures. In that sense "kicking ass" (i.e. dropping fire on people for no good reason) seems to be about as important as making "feel safe." Whether the industry actually keeps us safe from external violence to any appreciable degree (i.e. that would be anywhere near worth the expenditure of blood and treasure devoted to that industry) seems to be highly debatable (and as a benefit, of at most tertiary significance, in this scheme).