I disagree with one-day classes for everyone, and honestly, I do think that includes SR and YR. I think the question is what is a man supposed to get out of Freemasonry. What does it give him? The two sides of the coin, IMHO, are inculcation in him of a particular system of ethics and guidance in living his life by them, and fellowship with men who follow the same path as he.
The first purpose is bound up in the ritual. As is so often quoted, Masonry is a system of ethics taught through symbols veiled in allegory (or something like that). We inculcate in ourselves the morals of Masonry when we receive the degrees, when we confer the degrees, and when we learn and teach the memory work. The second is bound up within the time spent with the Brothers, usually over pre-meeting meals.
It is often said that the symbolism and allegory of Masonry is so rich and deep that a man could spend a lifetime searching it and never exhaust it possibilities or its teaching potential. If that is so, how could we ever expect a man to absorb all there is to absorb in just the outer coat of the three degrees when he has all three of them thrust upon him in one day? As someone pointed out, Scottish Rite presents even more information in one day, and York Rite even more. No, it doesn't make you not legitimately a Master Mason, a 32 degree Mason, or Sir Knight, but it takes half the purpose of each of those bodies, the inculcation of certain moral lessons, and attempts to fulfill it in 24 hours. Anyone here fancy taking a full calculus course in a week?
Now let me ask a heretical question: What is so special about being a Mason? The practice of our Craft, the way it is currently done, is really quite boring. Don't get me wrong, becoming a Mason was one of the best things I ever did, and the day I was raised will forever be a highlight of my life. But the stated meetings, the business, the administration of our lodges and charities...it's not exactly a barrel of monkeys. The reason that we do it, though, the reason that it's so important to be involved in how the lodge is run, is that keeping the lodge open means that the degrees in Masonry will continue to be available to good men in your community. IMHO, the administration of the lodge is subservient to the degrees.
In regards to a soldier being a Mason, what does he even get out of it? A Masonic funeral if killed in action? What is so special about *being* a Master Mason that a man should prefer it over the profound and life-changing process of *becoming* a Master Mason? I see no reason that being a Mason is so critical a life-goal that a soldier should be allowed to dispense with the regular workings of the Craft to ensure that when he deploys to a hostile environment he is a Mason upon arrival. Freemasonry neither gives you protection in battle, a stronger camaraderie with your fellow soldiers (what bond could surpass that shared amongst men who have faced death together?), nor promise of a better afterlife should you die in war. The only advantage I could see is the ability to attend lodge if there are travelling lodges active in the armed forces. However, if that is the case, I see no reason to deny those lodges the honor of raising their brother-in-arms themselves, and certainly that means that he will have brothers available to him to teach him his memory work, though I can't imagine you really have time for that during an active duty deployment.
If all a man is looking for is the opportunity to fellowship with good men and give to charity, there are many places and organizations for him. But Masonry, unlike all of those other organizations has another part to it, and that's the reason it has survived all these long years when other fraternities have withered with the passing of the age of fraternalism and the coming of the age of television and the Wii. That part is only found in the conferral of the three degrees in Masonry and the learning of the memory work.
As for the appendant bodies, I recently petitioned my local York rite bodies. I chose the York Rite specifically because I did not want any "festival" degrees. In fact, I spoke with someone and made certain that I would be able to receive the York Rite degrees in the traditional manner if my petition was approved.
My not-nearly-as-humble-as-it-probably-ought-to-be, stuck-in-my-ways-traditionalist-at-23-years-old opinion...