As a Vietnam Vet, I'd be appreciative if that silence started here and now.
I can certainly understand why this would annoy you, but I think he makes a fair point to mention this, even if, IMO, it is a bit weak (I'll get to that). All countries governments make mistakes and to presume that one's own government is infallible is to give them too much power. Of course it's also possible to be "too wary" of them. I guess in some respects the idea that any government in a democratic society is a "them" is the issue, since fundamentally the government of a country should at least be considered as an "us" rather than in an adversarial sense.
On the other hand, I also don't think anything that happened in the past really invalidates the complaint/statement, particularly when we consider that as a representation of the people of the country the government is not really the "same" government, even if we allow for any particular consideration of issues or ideologically-charged conflicts.
I don't think such considerations should be interpreted as insults against the men and women who served in the noted conficts by any means. For example I do not personally agree with Canada's involvement in several military actions but now that the decision has been made- even if I disagree with it- they ought to do the job to the best of their ability.
I suppose that's the issue when you consider high-level decisions regarding military conflict; those involved can easily take it personally, which is completely understandable. But I don't think such criticisms and considerations are at all directed at the specific people that fought in the conflict, but rather the people that made the decision to send those people into conflict.
