New here..need to rant!

[The Reality Salesman01]

I said to him if he is talking about our hero soldiers protecting our country I would say the same thing.

I'm an active duty Atheist and after 9 years, it gets harder and harder to accept thanks for my service. I can appreciate that some people are afraid of joining the military and that their gratitude translates more accurateky to "Thanks for volunteering so folks like me don't have to" and while I never experienced the same fear, i can sort of understand the sentiment. I also realize that any country with something to lose can needs a military to protect it and even while I don't agree with much of what the government uses us for, I do see our existence as necessary. I think the U.S. would get stormed over night if we decided to cut all military members from the payroll and immediately ceased all forms of military related activity. I want to say that when people thank a military member for protecting their country, they're really just expressing gratitude for being fortunate enough to live in a country that has a military to ward off other countries from doing what we've been doing to them. I don't like being thanked. I didn't join out of the kindness of my heart, I get paid with a pretty decent living and the benefits are damn good. My education and my son's have been paid for and we are 100% covered by medical insurance. Knowing all of this stuff makes it seem hard to accept gratitude, especially since they pay taxes. I don't know where I was going with this, but there is just something about all the propaganda that makes me uneasy as well.