The big lesson the war monger racketeers learned from Vietnam was to fuel their war All Volunteer and not by the Draft that would rile up anti-war protesters. So they reversed course on the stigma of Vietnam and pretended to value military by emphasizing the positive.
In the war jingoism at the revving up on Iraq, I started getting the meme and didn't want to be associated with Shrub-CHEENEE-Iraq. I wear my ship's cap, one of my dogtags on a chain, and in cool weather my VFW windbreaker - and why shouldn't I since these things are emblematic of four years of my life. These items triggered the wingnuts but why should I quit them because of what wingnuts think they mean?
But besides the origin of the meme, it was immediately clear that those approaching/assaulting me with it were mostly wingnuts, with the occasional sprinkling of sincere ones. It was easy to tell the difference.
So in that Iraq phase down through the Drumpf years (with the MAGA caps), I would reply, "Oh, it was nothing." When I told the local wingnuts this, one of them who is more of an old line Country Club Repuke said, "Can't you just be gracious and say you're welcome."
No. In fact I take credit for having kept one fellow from reenlisting. He was a six-years vet, Airborne with 30+ jumps and was planning to go back in. He was running a bar started by his father and was the sole support for a very young brother and their mother. He had a date set to start the process, and we had a talk. I told him that he had already done his part and was more needed by his brother and mother.
Meanwhile, at that business there was this dude in his late 20s who worked in a bank and seemed to be hopped up on something, over the top. He took it upon himself to do the meme on me while I was at the urinal, which was annoying in itself. I said it was nothing. He raised his voice and said yes it WAS. We went back and forth a few times and then outside, when the Airborne happened by, I said to the hopped one, "If this guy comes back in a box, I don't want you to talk to me, shake hands, anything!" He said, "I didn't do it (Iraq)." I said that his wingnut support did it and that instead of "thanking" others he should enlist himself.
I don't know whether my talk kept the Airborne home, but he didn't go.
*** Then in the Drumpf MAGA hat years, those idiots with their trademarked ignorance somehow got the idea that anybody veteran or military were fellow Drumpf zombies. A mystery connection given Drumpf's insults of veterans and their families, his contempt for veterans in cemeteries, calling the dead "losers" - not to mention his complete disdain for democracyl So at the height of the MAGA caps, I was accosted/assaulted in the grocery store parking lot by a MAGGAT running up to me with hand stuck out to shake and doing the meme on me. I said, "No (Drumpf) for me." He was STUNNED, stopped in his tracks, took back his hand, then recovered by saying, "No AMERICA for YOU!!!!!!!1"
Huh - Drumpf equates with "America"?!
Another time at the grocery store (always the grocery store), a WW II vet greeted me while wearing something Drumpf. I said something about don't-tell-me/Drumpf and he said that Drumpf was saving the country. I walked off and said over my shoulder, "He's a traitor to the country."
*** In recent times that things have *somewhat* cooled down, I'm not memed that much, and they tend to be more of the sincere type. One young cashier said it innocently and sincerely, and I said, "Thank you for YOURS." He was shocked, blushed, and said, "I'm not a veteran, sir." I said, "When you look out for others, act responsibly, and do your best, you are serving." You could see the wheels turning.
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