Sure there's historic reason that the DoD has such a large block, but it is definitely unfair in the modern world. There is no way they need or will ever use their massive block of addresses. They have 13 different /8 blocks, ~218 million unique addresses, that's over 5% of the entire IPv4 address space.
The modern paradigm you're using as a comparison only exists because this network designed for the US military industrial complex was so freely open and fair that it is now used by everyone.
There were and still are are other global networks -- none of them come close to being anywhere near as open or interoperable. What's the next closest, PSTN maybe?
Seen differently, it’s fair for a founder who has relinquished most of their control over the system to retain 5% equity ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You can always just use IPv6 where there is plenty of address space available. You can even get a /44 as a hobbyist easily