I'm sorry, please feel free to correct me, but I just have to comment because this post made me pretty mad.

I do not come from a military family, nor a very patriotic/American values-type family, nor an American family at all. But I will always stop to shake hands with a man or woman in uniform, and express my gratitude. Just as you said, we are thanking the troops. We are not thanking the greedy, sick corporation that commands these men. We are showing our love for the boots on the ground, with families back home, with their lives on the line.

I'm sitting in an internationally renowned conservatory writing this comment. Some 20-year-old kid is hiding behind a rock to protect himself from machine gun fire, because some dickhead up the chain told him to. He could quit, go AWOL, shoot himself. But he doesn't, and he follows orders because he wants to. He's doing it for his people, his family, his friends, his nation. He's doing it for me. I owe him. So don't tell me I shouldn't be thanking them.

That said, I understand the specific problem in the article, regarding NFL and MLB etc. using these people as a means of advertisement and attention. That's wrong. It shouldn't be stuffed in your face, it shouldn't be marketed to you. But I think you should be doing it anyway out of gratitude, and love.