They had to expand their pool of clientele. Without all these new veterans they would go out of business. They still might, over time.
It's the same thing that the VFW did... Used to, you couldn't join unless you had set foot in a foreign war zone. But the VFW has been slowly bleeding to death due to attrition. Old members were dying. There weren't enough new members willing to sign up, so what does the VFW do? They change the rules... Now, anyone who got a "global war on terror" ribbon (everybody on active duty post 2001) gets to join the VFW, whether they went to Iraq/ Afghanistan or not...
VFW and PX/ Exchange system... Two organizations facing extinction, doing whatever they can to hold on for as long as possible.