This was one of the best reasons to join the military. As a military veteran you always qualified for a prime loan so long as the cost of principle plus fixed rate interest payment was under the agreed upon percentage of monthly income. This is due to the VA home loan, which also eliminates Primary Mortgage Insurance (PMI). Then to make it still more clear I don't believe the VA home loans allowed for variable rate mortgages of any kind.

The VA home loan was not actually a loan itself. Instead was more of a guarantee from the federal government the borrower was maximally reputable, so long as their income qualifies, and only qualified for fixed rate prime loans. Lenders are always happy to see VA loans because it generally means dramatically lower liability for all parties which means the banks carried less liability, which provided the borrower the ability to negotiate for lower rates. Because prime home loans are high value commodities in a competitive market banks were/are happy to accept negotiated offers.

And also, VA loads require no down payment, but that generally means a higher monthly payment to compensate.