What exactly does it mean to "support our troops"?

It means to WITHOUT POLITICS to support the soldier for being a soldier and serving our nation in your defense. Whether during war time or peace time a soldier IS serving in defense of this nation.

It seems most like to muddle 'support our troops' with their political agenda and instead of actually supporting our troops they want to use the phrase as a way to bash the other side of the isle. Somehow it became a tool to bash the other side. I don't know who started it and I don't care who started it. "Support our troops" Should not be used to throw a political jab at your opponent.

If you are on the right side of the isle and you support both Iraq and Afghanistan and you want our soldiers to finish the fight and win that is great. Thank you for your support.

If you are on the left side of the isle and you do not support both Iraq and Afghanistan and you want our soldiers home that is great. Thank you for your support.

Both sides can support the troops for different reasons. One side has not right to tell the other side they don't support the troops. Supporting the troops is not a political issue. It only means that you are behind them no matter where I government sends them. No matter if you agree how our government is using them. Before they were soldiers they too were just civilians just like you. They have mothers and fathers. They have sons and daughters. They are your neighbors and they are your friends.

The mindset of one side is never going to completely agree with the mindset of the other side. Neither side want our soldiers to get wounded or killed and both side believe they are looking out for the best interest of our nation.

It means what it says. If you support the troops then you support what they do whatever that may be. The United States military is huge so there are many different roles that "the troops" play. Some people blanket it as just being a phrase related to the current conflict and past ones but it's much more than that. However, just like the word patriotism, people have lost sight of its true meaning and use it for a political agenda.

'Support the troops' is another one of those political phrases that means different things to different people, that politicians use in a very vague way, deliberately not defining what it means to -them- in hopes that everyone they're speaking to will think the politician shares his own view. Other phrases like this are 'family values', 'the American dream', etc.

During the two Gulf wars, 'I support the troops' was the slogan pushed by the government to curtail criticism of the two Bush administrations. Anyone who criticized the wars was accused of not 'supporting the troops'. So it really came to mean 'I support the war'.

Some genius came up with a bumper sticker that said "Support the troops! Bring them home!", and from that point on we didn't hear a lot from Republicans about supporting the troops.

To me, supporting the troops means not just seeing them as a political tool, not putting them in harm's way for totally political reasons--in other words not to waste them in a war based on lies against a country that never threatened us in any way. It also means giving them the medical/psychological care they need when they get home, as something like 15-25% of our combat vets (depending on whose numbers you believe) have some level of PTSD, and many will be psychologically or emotionally damaged for the rest of their lives. To me it also means a bigger GI Bill, for instance helping them with college tuition, which is good for us as well as for them.

It means you don't put a "support our troops" ribbon on a foreign made car. If you want to support the troops, you have to support your country.

Alot of people say they are but show little action Everyone wants this war to end but no one is steeping up..

We need protesters and people to face congress if we want to bring the troops home/

Well it can mean a lot of different things!

My husband is Air Force and as much as I dont like the idea of him or anyone else deploying over to that **** hole place someone has to do it! Show appreciation for all the troops that fight for our country.. ANOTHER words DONT PROTEST, SHOW APPRECIATION!!!

everyone has their own definition of that i suppose:

to some its waving a flag and throwing around sayings that really have nothing to do with us

to others its actually doing something like sending letters or care packages

the best of the "support your troops" bunch is the ones that will buy a servicemember a beer, say a quick "i appreciate what you're doing" or something to that effect (or even nothing at all), and wont use the troops as some sort of example for pushing their own political views on others.

Most people just use it as a catchphrase and probably don't look for any meaning behind it. People throw slogans and soundbytes around because it SOUNDS 'patriotic' or 'more American'. Far too many people don't understand what it really means to BE patriotic.

If you're a republican..support the troops...means dont question anything, just keep approving the money for war

For our lives to have meaning you gotta be able to rim the angry bull billy no what im sayinnnnnn daaarddddd nyooorn