The way veterans are portrayed in the media is likely to contribute to public attitudes.
Many countries have longstanding traditions, ceremonies, and holidays to honour their veterans. In the UK, “Remembrance Day” is held on November the 11th and is focused mostly on the veterans who died in service to the monarch and country. A red or white poppy is worn on the lapel (for remembrance or for peace, respectively) in the weeks up to the date, and wreaths and flowers laid at memorials to the dead.
In Russia, a tradition was established after World War II where newly married couples would on their wedding day visit a military cemetery. In France, for instance, those wounded in war are given the first claim on any seat on public transit. Most countries have a holiday such as Veterans Day to honour their veterans, along with the war dead.
In Zimbabwe, the term veteran is used for political purpose and may not actually refer to someone that participated in a war, but rather to someone who feels entitled to some benefit because of association with a cause for which there had been an actual war.
Britain, with its historic distrust of standing armies, did little for its veterans before the 19th century. It did set up two small hospitals for them in the 1680s. In London and other cities the streets teemed with disabled or disfigured veterans begging for alms.