I'm not completely sure of all the details of what you mean, Eddie. I can't tell if the following addresses you or not; if it doesn't, just imagine me talking over your shoulder to the folks behind you.
I've never been in the standing military, only in the militia. Can somebody who has been in the standing military explain to me what the big deal is about supporting the troops? I mean, they're professionals with a job to do, right? I don't mean to offend anybody, but if they are professionals, should our support really matter to them?
For example: I'm a professional software developer. I'm paid to do a job too. (One difference is that I'm compensated with money that somebody willingly chose to pay me in exchange for the exercise of my talents, rather than with money that was forcibly extorted from people by a government agency whether or not those people advocated that particular use of the money; that may or may not be relevant here.) How many of you folks support me? Have any of you sent me care packages or mail expressing your hopes and encouragement that I'll be able to bear up under the stress of my job and overcome its obstacles?
Not as far as I know, and I kind of like it that way. If I got a care package in the mail, I'd be a little disturbed and suspicious. (Unless it contained a box of Padron 3000 Maduro or Partagas Black Label Clasico cigars, of course.) I'm a professional: I do the job that I'm paid to do, regardless of my morale. And anyway, my morale generally has nothing to do with current public opinion of software developers: it has more to do with my current state of health, my relationships with my wife and kids, whether I got to go shooting last weekend, whether I'll be flying later in the day--stuff like that.
So what is the essential difference between a professional soldier (paid by extortion) and a professional software developer (paid by choice) that makes it necessary to say nice things about the soldier and send him gifts lest he be unable to do his job, but the software developer (and, I suspect, the plumber, bus driver, executive, banker, electrician, scientist, etc.) is expected to do a professional job without compliments and gifts from the public at large?
I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't say nice things about our soldiers or that we shouldn't send them gifts: those are good things to do. But I'm wondering why everyone so automatically agrees that it is not just a good thing but a necessary thing--not just a necessary thing, but a crucial thing--to make it possible for said soldiers to do the jobs they're given.
