In answer to your question*

"Do you think that the military and veterans are treated like the unwanted caste in this society?"

I am very well acquainted with two veterans who most certainly have been, and continue to be, treated as second class citizens. They are both literate, cultured and highly intelligent, with skill-sets that are becoming rare today.
One is treated with disdain by co-workers in spite of the fact that she is qualified to do their jobs as well as her own. She wore many hats while in the military but finding an employer who understands that has been difficult. Jobs have been stressful because, along with daily life, she must deal with the snickers and cliquey junior-high-girl behavior from those whose highest goal in life is solely material.
The other, who is deployed currently, was insulted and ignored in an outrageous manner by college entrance desk jockeys. He was treated in an immature and childish manner by acquaintances and students. He was turned down for jobs for which he was more than qualified. Transferring his skills, as with vet #1, was next to impossible.
Another veteran of my acquaintance has no access to affordable health care. He is barred from using the facilities locally because they are set aside for WWII and Korean veterans. This leaves him no choice but to wait months for an appointment at the nearest VA hospital. That entails driving quite a ways and with the price of gas? It has become an impossible burden for him.
There are scores of vets who are struggling through layer after layer of government garbage. Review boards that have been instructed to change their standards in such a manner that even those vets with serious mental or physical handicaps, due solely to their service, can not be qualified for full disability. Service doctors who shuttle patients through so fast that they have no chance to do a real examination. Paperwork that is lost or was never completed.
The "popular media" (and you know who those people are) portray an image of someone in the armed services or veterans in a manner that unconsciously gives the impression that those folks enlisted because they weren't smart enough to do anything else. It is doubtful whether 75% of the tv-watching population realizes that, although there are those who can't do anything else, many who enlist are amongst the brightest and the best. Our "leadership," whether federal or state, are not making the situation any better. They, too, give that subliminal message that "those solder-people" aren't quite as good as the rest of the population. And, to boot, they sure as hell aren't near as good as all those "smart" people who went from high school to an Ivy League university.
It's more than unfortunate, it's tragic, that this attitude reflects the general state of affairs in our country. No longer are you judged by the quality of your soul, by your standard of honor, decency, respect, responsibility... now the only yardstick is How Much You Own. Alternatively, How Much You Make. It's unclear whether those short-sighted and soul-sick people are infuriating or should be regarded as objects of pity.
I have wished for 35 years that I had been allowed to enlist when I desired, out of high school. It would have been as good for me, as a person, as it has been for those I know who have served and are serving.
So, in short, yes to your question. Undoubtedly. To the eternal shame of our country and it's citizens.


* This comment, posted in response to the aforementioned question, caused a firestorm of shrieks and screechings. Not from veterans but from those who read my comment and felt offended because they were indeed the same people whom I spoke of as being short-sighted and soul-sick. I found this immensely interesting. It has been my observation that those who get in an uproar about something like this are guilty as charged. For what other reason would they be offended?