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I remember reading a great newspaper article by Roland Barthes (reprinted and translated in the collection, 'Mythologies') where he took apart the symbology of a news magazine's cover photo of an African soldier serving in the French army, and all the emotional resonance it was supposed to produce for all the purposes you describe. IIRC, he also managed to convey the points that the symbology and hero worship (as you describe it) are not there to serve the troops or honor them, but to advance the purposes of politicians (and Empire).
Fabulous. Also concise and accessible to a lay audience, not just fellow semioticians. I wish we had more of that ourselves, especially now. It's hard to imagine American consumers going for that sort of thing, but that's only because we don't have (enough) contemporary examples.
(To be fair, a much weaker example recently in The NeoCon Republic made the point that veterans' groups sometimes only serve the purpose of providing photo ops for politicians from both sides. The 'troops' are abstractions, like lapel pins, quickly made invisible with only that lingering sheen of patriotism to mark their passage ...)
