Your post moves me to comment on the “Thank you for your service” remark that is so commonly directed at veterans.
I’ve never uttered that phrase. Their service to the country is no better than my service to the bank that I’ve worked at for the last 27 years. No one routinely thanks me for my service. It’s just a job. Whether you work in a bank or for the US Army.
Thank you for your service? Yes certainly, if wounded or injured fighting in battle for my freedoms. Otherwise, it’s just a job.
And did you job as a bank clerk included being on call 24 hours a day to be sent to a foreign bank, in a foreign country, getting shot at and wounded or killed?