At the risk of belaboring an unfortunate episode that could have been averted with a bit of White House common sense, we need to examine one aspect of John Kelly’s equivalent of the St. Crispin’s Day speech from “Henry V.” This was when Mr. Kelly, the retired four-star general who is President Trump’s chief of staff, essentially said that those who haven’t served in the military — meaning nearly all Americans — cannot really understand those who have. He may as well have recited “we few, we happy few, we band of brothers” while he was at it.

“We don’t look down upon those of you that haven’t served,” Mr. Kelly said. But then he did exactly that. “In fact, in a way we’re a little bit sorry because you’ll never have experienced the wonderful joy you get in your heart when you do the kinds of things our servicemen and women do.”

Implicit in his remarks was this: If you cannot grasp instinctively what the military goes through, you may well have forfeited the right to criticize it. That point was made explicit by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, when she called it “highly inappropriate” to “get into a debate with a four-star Marine general.”

Mr. Kelly’s statements struck some as offensively patronizing. But they can only bolster the conviction of those among us who believe that reinstating military conscription, or requiring some form of alternative national service, deserves serious consideration — and that the country would be the better for it.