I'll put in my two cents....
Joined the Air Cadets in 1970. In those days too many Cdns thought it chique to adopt the anti-war mentality of the US. If you were a cdt in Canada you didn't dare mention it to yr schoolmates, because you'd get the '...so you wanna be a baby-killer?" line. Tiresome. It was bad enough just having short hair back then.
Joined the Pri Res in '75, and then REALLY got it. Ya know, I hardly ever even spanked my kids (when I finally had them), let alone killed babies, but the general public in Victoria BC seemed convinced that was my occupation. Put up with a lot of that stuff back then. What it all came down to was that the teens and young adults of Canada just thought it was so "grown-up" to do the anti-war thing like our cousins south of the border. Images of demostrations, and flag burnings, and the chant of "hell no, we won't go" were just so....thrilling, so FASHIONABLE.
Things got better in the 80s, until Somalia. Let's not dwell on the Lib gov'ts abandonment of its fighting men and women though.
But what really brought a tear to my eye was the public support for the Army when it moved fm Calgary to Edmonton. That was followed later by the public reception of the first roto of troops coming back from Afganistan. Was hard for me not to get choked up standing amongst the throngs of civvies lining the streets when the soldiers paraded in front of City Hall...not something you would have seen in '75.
The Cdn public's attitude overall has changed drastically, BUT, there are still all those of the "baby killer" mentality, and you will never get rid of them completely. They're the people that would rather sit in front of their TV and eat peanut butter sammies and smoke weed than ever think of getting of their fat butts and doing something for humanity. Those liberal thinkers that were being discussed earlier in the thread could more aptly be described as "non-doers". If it means inconveniencing themselves or actually putting themselves in danger for the sake of someone else...well, count them out. Consider them, my friends, as the true dregs of society.
Not the poor little girl standing on a street corner trying to get enough money to buy a fix, or the old-man sorting through a dumpster for empties. They need our help, and they need defending, by a soldier as much as anyone else. But the honest-to-god against-everything, name-calling, elitist left-winger? Straight dregs. Remember that, and weep for a wasted life: theirs.
But it's been warming to me to see the positive change in attitude by the bulk of the civ populus towards its military in the last 30 yrs.
I shall now step off my soap box, and cease pontificating.