You did not do a 'tour of duty', you worked a comfortable, air-conditioned, white collar job for a few years. Co-opting the language of actual military service is downright offensive.
For some reason there's a lot of negativity in this thread. I thought the txt file was really cool, signed up immediately, and have been having a lot of fun with the interface. I don't remember the last time I found registering for a SASS product to be fun.
I used Chariot daily for my commute when I lived in the outer richmond (24th ave). Its existential purpose was to ensure you would only travel with fellow commuters, and not the raving lunatics who rode the muni. It was a kind of bridge above the fray.