Non-Political Description
“Support The Troops” and “Support Our Troops” are general expressions of moral backing and endorsement of the armed forces.

Political Description
As a euphemism, “support the troops” has been very busy delivering a multitude of meanings. As it has been used regarding the war in Iraq, it can mean an endorsement for:

• the Bush administration policies
• the objectives of the war
• increasing funding for the war
• decreasing funding for the war
• providing specific war materials
• increasing troop levels in Iraq
• removing all troops from Iraq
• providing material comfort or support to troops
• providing expressions of concern for troop welfare
• returning injured veterans
• families of veterans
• symbolic gestures through commercial marketing

Political Benefits
Because the phrase is so vague and soft, it can be embedded with almost any meaning. The original default meaning indicates support not only for the troops but also for the political policies that have placed them where they are. But as shown above, it has also represented so many different meanings for so many different political viewpoints since 2001 that it has become trite. Since almost everybody says they “support the troops”, saying you do not support the troops is now generally considered an unpatriotic act and has even become a source for satire.

History
The phrase itself is generic. It only began to take on significant cultural meaning in America during the political and social schism that occurred during Vietnam war. The power of the phrase was magnified as it began to take on meanings that were much more than the sum of its words.

The vehement national split led to many military members and veterans being shunned, spit upon literally and figuratively, and generally disrespected while serving and most especially upon their return from duty overseas. Vietnam veterans were treated as effigies for the politicians, policies, and military-industrial complex that continued to support the war. The poor treatment much of the nation heaped upon veterans, many of them draftees, was a source of national shame and anger for many years and arguably a significant factor in the withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam.

Despite the national hand-wringing that had occurred in the ten years since the end of the Vietnam war, American public support for the “troops” and the military in general began to coalesce once again during the American military campaign in Grenada in 1983. This support further broadened during the Panama military campaign and reached a national crescendo during the Gulf War that expelled the Iraqi army from Kuwait in 1991. Ever since then, not “supporting” the troops has become a significant cultural taboo and is considered unpatriotic.