I will make one final comment on this before I leave you all to it.
First and foremost, if you sign up to join the army, then you sign up for everything that goes with it. If you want to honour this, then good for you. While I do realise that there are some soldiers who believe they are fighting a noble cause, if the truth be told, every war the US has engaged in since and during WW2 has been to further their own geopolitical ends. When they tell you that you are serving to protect you country, what they really mean is that you are protecting their global interests.
2ndly, there are more human rights abuses in the US than there are in North Korea so before you start pointing fingers at any other country, you need to look a lil closer to home first.
Finally, people join the military for different reasons. Some are indoctrinated since childhood with all of that justice and liberty crap. Others are do it as a way out of poverty or whatever other reason. There are also some who actually believe that they are defending their country when, in fact, it is not their country which needs defending but rather the other way round.
I respect servicemen in principle if they believe they are joining up for the right reasons. However, I wont respect a soldier just because he joined up and has bee shot at. Really, so what? It is your job and what you signed up for and my respect goes first and foremost to those refugees and devastated communities who's lives have been destroyed by your warped notions of justice, honour and democracy. Seriously, go and preach to an orphaned child who's parents were killed by US drones that you are serving for the right reasons and how worthy you are of their respect.