It is the guilt we feel for sending poor people to die for the interests of the rich, and then abandoning the ones that did survive to subpar healthcare and broken promises, only to use them as political pawns every 2-4 years.

If we all just say "Thank you!!" over and over again, we are absolved.

Ah I see, similar to "thoughts and prayers"?

To give you some context on this, after the Vietnam war many protestors attacked the troops coming home. Many in the US, later regretted this, considering that many of these troops were drafted into the war, and came from some of the most vulnerable communities.

After the first Gulf War, there was a deliberate effort to thank the troops when they got home, which has persisted after 9/11.

To give _you_ some context on this, attacks by protesters on returning troops from Vietnam is a myth. The reason people venerate "the troops" today is 50 years of concerted right-wing militaristic propaganda which serves to deflect legitimate debate by classifying any kind of criticism as being "against the troops".

https://www.amazon.com/Spitting-Image-Memory-Legacy-Vietnam/...

Ensuring that the poor and impoverished (those who go into service in the U.S.) rebrand their identity to 'patriotic troop' is a very crucial function of military training and propaganda.

Thank you for your service!

People are not generally fascinated by the troops. "The troops" is a political trope thrown around to try to squash any criticism of the military, its funding, its missions or anything remotely related to it. It's a sound bite that conservatives proudly trot around to deflect dissenting views.