@blakemile84. As a veteran myself I agree with you on this one. I was far from a dupe or a baby-killer. It seems to me that the people who so love writing and preaching on topics such as this fall into one of two primary categories (though this doesn't include all of them). Those are:

1. Tried to enlist but couldn't for whatever reason.
2. Have no desire to ever serve and hate the military for some reason that only they fully understand.

I have also noticed the fact that everyone of the people writing and preaching this stuff seem to forget exactly how this country has never been directly invaded. Yes, we have been attacked. Pearl Harbor and 9/11/2001 were both calculated and deliberate attacks on U.S. soil, but never invaded. That is because of us and men and women like us, The United States military. If we get rid of the military you and I know that this country will suddenly be a sitting duck and it wouldn't take long before another country came over and took us over by force. It seems that they have this vision that you can remove the armed forces of America and the country will carry on exactly as it is. Until that delusion changes then we will never win our argument against them. Maybe they'll wake up when they find themselves hiding behind one of our highly trained butts begging us to save them and waiting for us to TELL them what to do and where to go so that they can survive. Oh, wait, I forgot, we're dupes...until then all I can say is that it was my pleasure serving in the military so that people like this can continue hating us and insulting us thanks to that pesky piece of "parchment" mentioned in this post. What was it called again? Oh yeah, The Constitution.
No, I do not agree with the politicians most times and I never blindly followed a single order. There was always thought involved and consequences weighed. That said, I'd gladly do it all again. Thanks for your service @blakemiles84. If you get time, check out my posts and let me know what you think.