From a strategic level, I'd rather save the life of a veteran who knows the lay of the land, knows the situation, knows the forces he might fight alongside or against, and just generally has experience of the war than summon an equivalent who'd need to be brought up to speed and would take a long time to get accustomed to this particular war. Experience and loyalty account for
a lot.
I definitely reckon this sort of behaviour is more likely from the likes of Jandar, Aquilla and Ullar than from Utgar, Vydar or Valkril, though.
(Though I have no doubt Vydar and Utgar would save Q9 and Cyprien respectively as many times as they needed to - they're just
that valuable.)