So not only can you save lots of budget in the military, but it also reduces the harm that a well-funded and organised military can be to the "internal enemy", which is usually poor, indigenous, black or otherwise marginalised people. (Usually with the cover of "combatting drug trafficking")
while that's true, the military is also the only institution that, if co-opted, could be used in a theoretical situation against local police, which is usually armed to the teeth in countries where drug trafficking is serious enough
when bolsonaro had his pathetic military parade, with tanks fuming like old chevettes (to the point where it became a meme), i was only happy until i remembered how our local police are pretty much brownshirts bearing automatic rifles
i've always thought the decline of capitalism, or even just the accumulation of its downturns, had the consequence of people trusting authorities less than they used to, and that scientists just get thrown in the same bag ("people who mess with this convoluted stuff as if they know what they're doing and just keep making my life worse")