If everything could be compressed into symbols then we could suppose a dixie chick talking to a symbol of the military. She would say something to the effect that she supported him but not what he was doing. The military symbol would answer her by saying that he needed to go to war as a last result because everything that could have been done was done but the danger remains. How could anyone separate the soldier from the war? What percentage of the military had been in the military-reservists and all other categories included-a long time before the war was even considered a necessary option? By becoming a soldier before there is a specific war to fight, the soldier is stating who he is and what he stands for and most importantly what he will do.
Can you separate a rapist from his crime? Can you separate a saint from his good deeds? What a person does or does not do on his own and with his free will defines what a person is or is not.
The support for the troops but not the war cannot be applied to the iraq war but it can be the vietnam war. The distinction here is that of an all volunteer army and a conscripted one.