the problem with meritocracy in the military is that it is defined top-down. iaw, there is an in-group that decided who gets to join them.

a better approach would be what i have seen in the boy scouts of america a few decades ago with regards to joining the order of the arrow. there the whole troop would select those who would be invited. most troop members were not members of the OA themselves. thus the ones who were already selected had little influence in who got to join them.