No, you and the rest of the “show some respect!” crowd are offensive. Because you’re intellectually and emotionally dishonest when you equate what firefighters do with what soldiers do. The civil service is not military service. You’re trying to horn in on what rightfully belongs only to servicemen.
And I’m not talking about firefighters who happen to be veterans. I’m talking about career civil service workers, most of whom never served, trying to make the case that they belong in the pantheon with soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines, so they can guilt cities into paying ever larger salaries and retirement benefits. It doesn’t fly.
No civil service job is more worthy of respect than my own or anyone else’s. Only SOLDIERS command that respect. And firefighters aren’t soldiers. I give them exactly the respect they deserve — one working citizen to another.
FYI most cops and firefighters are military veterans and or in the National Guard or Reserves.