I’ve always been somewhat cynical about the military and military service, but I have always said “thank you for your service” genuinely. I respect the sacrifice other people have made. Even if I criticize the military industrial complex, even if I see it as a sort of modern imperialism, all that doesn’t really matter on the individual level. Now, most people look down on military people in general, and it’s a canary in a coal mine. We no longer respect people that sacrifice for the greater good. Even when we knew the military had problems, we still respected people’s sacrifice for that ideal, even if was imperfect and even if we knew their sacrifice at times may have created more harm than good.. I think the problem now is not that we respect military less, or are more critical of military imperialism. I think as a society, the west, the United States, developing countries in general - we no longer believe there is a greater good. Either it's just not possible for life to be better or we don't believe anything idealistic is possible. ("We used to build things"... remember?) So instead of seeking a greater society, greater good for ourselves, we seek as much harm to our enemies as possible. We’ve all become terrorists ideologically. And terrorists don't thank anyone for their service, they say "glory to our martyrs."