Why? Oh yeah, this is the new sensitive Army. Long ago they'd use anything about you in order to tear you down. It wasn't actually about your religion, race, origin, height, or the size of your nose -- no discrimination on anything but the soldier you were becoming.
My close buddy went through Basic and then AI training at Fort Benning (Infantry) last summer. He was very knowledgeable about the Army and knew a great deal about the training process before he ever left home, due to the prior service of several of his family members and friends.
After he finished up, he told me that the quality of his DIs varied greatly, from first rate to outright incompetent. Moreover, apparently there was some kind of internal peeing match going on between those DIs who had served in the Sand Box and those who had not, resulting in clear acrimony among them.
Not kosher. Morale in the training companies plummeted because of it, and there was about a 66% loss rate in my pard's outfit (he was one of the one's who made it).
True story.