Some folks have expressed confusion on how one in the USA can be against the current war-that-is-still-not-a-war-even-though-it-essentially-is-a-war (so-called thanks to a Congress that won’t demand the President put up or shut up with a formal declaration request) and “support the troops”. I’m going to guess that at least some of them either aren’t American or are children born after 1970 or so.
This apparent paradox is a legacy of the emotional scars left by the excesses of some elements of those Americans who opposed the Viet Nam war. For reasons that I have yet to fathom (perhaps because LBJ simultaneously pursued this war AND had his “Great Society” programs), some of the anti-war groups decided to place all responsibility and blame for the conflict upon the ordinary troops. As part of their anti-war communication, they depicted all US forces as engaged in nothing but atrocities. All North Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge propaganda was uncritically and naively swallowed as perfect 100% pure truth. To hate the war, elements in the anti-war movement insisted that you also had to hate the soldiers and blame them personally for any and all wars. For reasons that I cannot yet fathom (utter stupidity?) the idea switched from “It is the leaders who start and stop wars–they deserve the majority of responsibility and blame.” to “It is the ordinary soldiers who fight wars–they deserve the majority of responsibility and blame.”
Thus, opposition to war became identified with hatred of anyone who would defend our country.
Thus, these days, it is often felt necessary in the USA to distance oneself from the aforementioned attitude.