Why are soldiers treated with so much respect?

Because of the sheer patriotism that we get from seeing veterans/soldiers, we respect them for doing something so dangerous and so risky, a big part of the respect is acknowledging they are doing something for our country that we were too afraid or too unwilling to do ourselves.

 

It takes so much bravery to step out there... Knowing how lazy I am and seeing how much hard work they put in, it's really admirable.

 

they're risking their life to protect his/her country.....

 

We could take the Vietnam War into example. Soldiers were spat on and slurred when they got home. They didn't deserve that, they were following orders. 9/11 made most people patriotic, even if they weren't prior to the event. People don't like to make the same mistake twice if it comes to their homeland. America is supposed to be this great place for at least its citizens. And as we all know, ISIS is a big no-no, and troops of all branches are /taking care of/ this issue (I mean, they probably will be the ones to eventually).

Of course it's their choice to join now, but, it's still something that takes a lot of dedication and bravery. You're signing up to possibly put your life on the line if you're ever deployed, let alone to a war-torn area (depending on your branch ofc). On top of that, you're signing up to say "Yes Ma'am" and "No Sir" no matter the circumstances. You may do things you're not proud of or even want to do, but you'll have to; and if you don't, you're gonna get in trouble. The structure implemented in the military is pretty insane. The military may be a job you go to 7 am-4 pm, but you're still dedicated for 4+ years whether or not you change your mind.

I'm getting ready to be shipped out to boot camp for the U.S. Navy within the next two months, and I've already been told by a few people who know I'm leaving, "Thank you for your service." I haven't even been to boot camp yet. It's weird. Like, you're welcome? I'll let you know when I do something worth thanking. Personally, I'm joining the military to further myself in the medical track (surgical technician) while banking some money for a car & home one day, as well as getting the post-9/11 G.I. Bill for medical school after I'm a civilian again. Not because I have some patriotic call or think I can do a whole lot of good for America. I'm doing this for me and my family, so I don't think I should be praised much. But that's just a view from a one-day U.S. Hospital Corpsman.

 

Yeah, I've always found it strange how much Americans venerate their soldiers. I guess thanking a WWII veteran is one thing, but the US hasn't been involved in a defensive war in a long time - Iraq wasn't exactly a threat to us.

 

It seems entirely subjective. In one light, you can see them as heroes of our Nation, going where others won't to help in the fights overseas.

In another example you might look at them and see nothing more then a serial killer walking around, that was granted permission to do so while they were in combat. That's the reality of war. They had to fight to survive, see their friends get shot and killed, etc. That changes you, whether you believe it or not.

As said by someone in the first page of this thread,
"In short, soldiers not only risk their lives, but also risk the chance of never living life the same again."
I completely agree.

 

as I'm currently in the Army, and my whole family is Commissioned Air Force, i think military in general is a job that deserves at least a decent amount of gratitude.

Less than 1% of American citizens join the military(on free-will, remember). Some of that 1% are people from other countries, naturalized in the process of serving for our country. Now, not all personal serving is going to see combat, but stay at home as a support to the country's defense. that being said, even they should be thanked to some extent.

Now, as far as the killing part goes, the majority of us don't actually want to kill people, but we will do it without hesitation to defend our brothers and sisters. its a kill or be killed world out there in war. its not something we look forward to, because int eh back of our heads, we dont want to be the one to lose our life.

Lastly, a thanks is always great from time to time, but its not mandatory. A lot of people in certain areas actually dislike military. you know how many times we go through briefs, telling us to be careful in the civilian world? too often.
Personally, if im going to be deployed or coming back from a deployment, then sure, a thanks is really heartwarming and makes me feel like im really helping the nation with a great cause. But if its just a workday and i keep getting a thank you every 5 minutes in public, it can get a little uncomfortable because i dont really know how to respond to me doing my everyday actions that i signed up for.

 

It's a sign of respect and appreciation to those who risk their lives to ensure our safety. We do it to police officers, firefighters, etc. as a mere sign of gratefulness.

 

What great cause are you helping?

A typical 18 year old who signs up for the Army isn't protecting me while stationed halfway across the world. A police officer is. Why would I thank the Army grunt?

 

Are you blue eyed and blonde? Serious question

 

I have blue eyes, my hair used to be blond, it's more brown-ish now. Why?

 

Curious as to whether or not you'd be alive had the american soldiers not gotten involved in Hitler's regime

 

Probably. But I have no problem thanking WWII vets, I'm talking about 18 year olds today who sign up.

 

Those are possibly the WWIII vets of the future and they're willing to give their life the same way those vets were. The only thing that differentiates them is chance

 

Sure, and if WWIII breaks out, I'll thank them. Right now, though, American soldiers are killing civilians around the world, which is pretty despicable to me.

 

Fair enough. I'm sure there are some casualties that aren't planned for, but they killed Bin Ladin too. You don't know what each individual soldier has done. Some have probably shot dogs in the street, maybe even innocent civilians, some might have saved lives, dragged people out of an IED, saved a family from captivity to use their home as a sniper point. At the end of the day, nobody knows what that individual solider you see in the local grocery store has done - so you thank them. They go through a lot of shit for our nation, I bet it means a lot to them to be thanked here and there

 

Right, I don't know what they've done, so it would be strange to thank them for good deeds they probably didn't do.

I don't know what you mean by "for our nation". They went through a lot of shit, sure, but it sure wasn't to protect America.

Also, when you say "some casualties", potentially upwards of a million civilians were killed.

 

For me it comes down to respect for people at an individual level. I don't go out of my way to thank soldiers whom volunteered for the service, but there is no malice or anything in my general thought for your every-day troops. I find it moronic to criminalize your every-day soldiers for simply doing their job.

Now, where my problem lies is within the military complex itself. Soldiers are doing their jobs, they are being ordered, they follow those orders, or they are court marshaled. Very little about the current U.S. military system is that about defense (and you could feasibly argue none of it is).

Shredder pointed it out earlier, Iraq was no actual threat to the U.S. and we invaded them on bad information practically ordered by the likes of Rumsfeld who helped ensure accurate information was disregarded (the likes of the NSC and CIA and overall NSA (as in national security adviser) and the likes were heavily politicized in the early 2000s). Iraq was not related to 9/11, Iraq did not have nuclear weapons, we knew Iraq did not have nuclear weapons, we butchered Iraq with the sanctions regimes after Kuwait, we effectively assured Saddam remained in power and later invaded on false pretense. Such a war led to the likes of the AQI and can be linked to much of the destabilization in the middle east (ex: IS). In a multitude of settings, the U.S. military is not stationed as a defensive system for the U.S. itself; rather, our interests.

I don't support the Iraq war in any shape-or-forum, but civilian casualties caused directly by American soldiers is no where near that figure (as it seems is implied in your post).

 

True, but what does it matter if they were killed by American bullets, or lack of access to a hospital? They're civilians who died who otherwise wouldn't have.

 

Well the latter is not necessarily true. Saddam-era Iraq was hardly pleasant (heavily due to the 90's sanctions regime) and the average populace was not in the best of shape + the whole "lets kill all the Kurds" stance by Saddam.

The numbers are certainly higher due to the a war, but the likes of mal-nutrition were still very prevalent.

Outside of that, a civil war itself was raging inside of Iraq. U.S. may have kick-started this sectarian war, but it would be unfair to attribute all the chain-reaction effects of the Iraq war to direct deaths by the U.S. Yes, arguably set in motion, but the U.S. did not bomb Shia mosques, the AQI did.