Alright, I know America is a fairly Jigoistic country, so I'm not sure if I'm gonna get flamed for this, but hear me out:

I do not think that our military, or their servicemembers, "protect our freedoms."

Let me explain. By "protecting our freedom," people imply that if it wasn't for our military power, our country would be destroyed, and I do not think that is the case. Sure, every country needs some level of military, and ours fights regional and proxy wars, but the narrative that it stands alone as a shield against a world that wants our country destroyed is idiotic to me. The United State's existence hasn't been threatened since the Civil War, even fucking Nazi Germany wouldn't have been strong enough to defeat the USSR, much less conquer America across the Ocean.

However, I DO think that the "protect our freedoms" narrative and performative "thank you for your service" gestures from people and businesses does have a negative impact. For one, it disencourages criticisms of American atrocities and abuses of power overseas. Secondly, it allows people to ignore the systemic realities of neglect of our veteran forces, specially when they return to the civilian world (its like a band aid trying to stop a gashing wound). And finally, it allows neglected veterans to be used as scapegoats to avoid tackling other systemic problems ("why should we allow refugees and immigrants into our country when we still have homeless veterans?" "Why should we help the poor when we have homeless veterans?"). The issue is that anytime campaigns and policies are introduced to help both veterans and other downtrodden people, its immediately shot down as "the nanny state" or "socialism."

I just feel like an unconditional worship of our military system and performative gestures of appreciation to soldiers is both disingenuous and ineffective at tackling the real issues with our military.