I don't think you can draw that conclusion that somehow older folks are more patriotic. Could you presume that people who served in the military gained some health benefit and as a result live longer, perhaps.
While, again, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that older people are/were more patriotic or to see some data that might suggest it in a circumstantial way, I agree that it isn't a clear cut conclusion.
I reject the idea that someone in the military is somehow more patriotic than someone else. Server in combat? Perhaps then you are, but most in the military don't serve in combat.
There's a saying that a "Veteran is someone who, at one point, wrote a blank check made payable to The United States of America for any amount of up to and including their life."
That's a pretty firm commitment, and it's one that every Veteran makes regardless of the period or nature of their service.
I don't fault any Veteran for not actually having been deployed to combat.
There are plenty of Veterans walking the street today, and probably more than a few who are currently planted in Arlington, for whom actually going to war at some point over the course of their enlistment was the last thing on their minds when they went to bed on the evening of September 10th 2001.
What's operative to me is the willingness to serve. The manner in which a Veteran is ultimately called to serve is completely out of their hands, to a greater or lesser degree.
I'd agree with you that there is something special about a young man or woman who willingly volunteers to serve during wartime, or, in times past, something special about those who answered the call when their government pulled their name from a hat, because many found any and every excuse to abdicate their responsibility to defend this nation.
But I think those Veterans are special among a group of people, the larger community of Veterans, who are already special in their own right.
You're welcome to disagree and to object vocally, just make sure you than a Veteran for defending, or for at the least standing ready to defend, your right to do so.