Not that I know of a lot of folks respect them. I didn't consider myself a vet for the longest time. I always considered the fights like the WW's and Vietnam to be the true vets, until I had a nice talk with someone. So I now proudly wear a patch on my bike vest that says "Proud to have served, Army veteran." Its no longer like the Vietnam war were those that served came home disrespected (there are still a few that do that). For the most part there are a lot of folks that support us. We had received a care package that some students wrote little letters and put folded flags in them for good luck. I carried that flag with me on every mission I went on for good luck.
I think the picture is more of poking fun at the six sense movie. While good it did get quite old really fast on how many kids quoted it at the time. That has been made into a bunch of other memes also.