I know that we live in a culture whereby all this stuff is heralded as amazing, but I don't get it. There's bugger-all cool about war. It just don't float my boat.
People want to see themselves as those who would survive, or even thrive, under any circumstances. Doesn't even occour to most(of your war fetishists) to consider whether they are identifying with an oppressive regime or invader. Time and again, it's always "Look at this cool shit these guys have! DON'T look at the piles of severed hands they sent to the families of their victims".
When I was a kid, lots of kids played with GI Joe toys. Those have been mostly replaced by Call of Duty and the like. At some point, the folks who fetishized those things started making enough money to make that lifestyle a reality for themselves. It’s basically cosplay, but the weapons are real.