Of course all Americans are grateful for these freedoms and for the men and women of the armed services who protect them.
But by the same token, we cannot avoid asking if all wars accomplish that aim. 60,000 Americans died fighting in Viet Nam. Did these deaths. however heroic, enhance our freedoms, and in particular our right to protest? (Well, maybe so -- people certainly protested like the dickens about that U.S. adventure. Not that the government encouraged these protests or liked them very much.)
In the late 1990s we sent soldiers to fight in the Kosovo wars. I think we supported the Albanians against the Serbs, or was it the Montenegrins against the Croatians? -- I forget. I do not feel any more free than I did before.
I think we can support our troops, while at the same time question the wisdom of the politicians who send them to their deaths halfway across the world. This, in my opinion, is neither inconsistent nor unpatriotic.
And that is why I said "in part".