Raymond Marshall’s 21 years in the Army undoubtedly steeled him for many of life’s obstacles but probably not for his now five-year tour of duty in the legal arena for enforcing his right to get a federal job.

The retired lieutenant colonel is the central figure in a court challenge whose outcome, veterans’ groups and litigators contend, could mean the survival or practical end to veterans’ preference — a bedrock of federal employment law for more than 60 years.