[MTT TL]

I am pretty sure that around 2006 1/5th of Army enlisted recruits received felony waivers.

I am 100% certain you are wrong. In 2006 there were about 1100 felony waivers on a total of enlistment of 125,000 for the US Army, NG and USAR combined. That number is misleading. Things that some states consider a felony (Littering, shoplifting, etc) are not actually considered felonies by the military. However 2006 was the peak year for waivers since the Vietnam era, so you did pick the right year.

Also just because someone has a felony conviction does not mean that can never get a CHL or buy a weapon either. There are processes that vary by state where you can get your rights restored. Things that you can not get rights restored for are pretty much the same things that will keep you out of the military.

I felt like I was being sold down the river by "members of the military" when several here agreed with OP that they should be given special rights to self defense not afforded civilians.

As far as I can tell no one in the military said that.

I know of one officer who was issued an M9 shortly after 9/11 and ordered to keep it on his persons for safety.

I have never heard of such a thing. Not saying it did not happen but it seems very unlikely unless he was a responsible banking officer or some other odd duty position that required him to carry. I hear of stories like this but have never seen one to be true. Certainly it would violate a plethora of Army and USMC regulations, possibly other services as well.

I don't think there is a great argument to be made that members of the military are more stable or predictable than people in the general populace.

Actually there is depending upon your POV. Members of the military commit crimes at much less of rate than the general population and have already had background checks, fingerprinting, DNA on file etc. They also tend to move on and become more productive members of society after service as well. Education levels are also much higher, which tends to be the biggest discriminator in violent criminal activity. Service members are routinely tested for drugs and any arrests that do occur are immediately reported through the chain of command to the soldier's supervisor.

Why shouldn't a businessman be allowed to carry in other states when he is there for short periods?

I don't know. Why shouldn't they?

Police are a little different b/c they build up a good number of people who may not like them that they may run into at any moment anywhere in the country.

You might do some more research on terrorist acts committed against military members in the last 8 years. You could also look into some of the hate groups that are here in the US that hate the military and conduct weird grave side protests to disturb the family of the deceased. Also some of the Islamic groups like the one that the Ft. Hood shooter became a member of and various other groups that target military members for killing. I am guessing from your post that you will be surprised.