Koldmamadaka, same disclaimer as to Sam; too little time to give the full answer you deserve, but briefly:
The requirements for army service has two pitfalls. 1) It takes away the prime years a bochur needs to develop as a ben Torah. 2) The Israeli military is run by people who believe in kochi v’otzem yodi, and soldiers are put in very compromising situations regarding giluy arayos (this is more what I had in mind by spiritual danger).
I haven’t directly addressed the fact that klal Yisroel needs the zchus of limud haTorah, especially in such a matzav where we’re surrounded by enemies, because, as Ben Levi put it, if you don’t agree, then we “have reached an ideological impasse”.
Financial support isn’t what this is about, though. This atzeres would never have been called had the choice to stay in the beis medrash rather than serve not been labelled criminal.