Monetizing Sacrifice – How cowards make profits off the brave

For years, the Colorado Rockies honored a single local veteran at their home games. It was a quiet, sincere gesture, a public thank you to someone who had risked everything to protect strangers. It cost nothing. It meant something.

Then someone in marketing realized there was money to be made.

The “Hometown Hero” was replaced by “Veteran Recognition Day,” a branded, sanitized event no longer about honoring individual sacrifice, but about showcasing a partner nonprofit—for a fee. One veterans-serving organization in Larimer County was told they would need to pay $10,000 just to be acknowledged. A price tag on patriotism.

This is not support. It is salesmanship. The Rockies are not honoring service, they are monetizing it. They are not alone. Across industries, we see the same pattern: those who never lifted a finger in defense of another human life, building careers, campaigns, and profit streams on the backs of those who did.

This story is not about baseball. It is about the growing industry of performative patriotism. And the cost of letting it go unchecked.

A Franchise Built on False Promises

In another high-profile example, the Federal Trade Commission brought action against BurgerIM, a fast-food franchisor that aggressively recruited military veterans. The company offered special “discounted” franchise opportunities, making emotional appeals to patriotism and entrepreneurship. Dozens of veterans signed up, putting their savings on the line. Then the company collapsed. Refunds were never issued. According to the FTC’s complaint, BurgerIM collected millions in franchise fees while delivering virtually nothing in return.

The appeal to patriotism was not incidental—it was central to the sales pitch. But behind the red, white, and blue branding was a deeply cynical calculation: veterans make great marketing.

Multi-Level Marketing Targets the Military

Multi-level marketing companies, or MLMs, have also discovered the value of military identity. Veterans and military spouses are frequently recruited with promises of flexible income and community. But the data is clear: most participants lose money. A report from the Federal Trade Commission found that 99 percent of MLM participants either fail to earn a profit or end up in the red.

The appeal is familiar. Service. Brotherhood. Belonging. These are sacred values for those who have worn the uniform. But when they are repackaged and resold as business tools, the result is rarely empowerment. It is exploitation.

A Well-Funded Failure

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is the most well-funded healthcare system in the history of our species. Its annual budget for fiscal year 2025 is $369.3billion, with another $441 billion proposed for 2026. Despite this, the suicide rate among American veterans remains among the highest of any population group in the country.

The VA’s official numbers claim that approximately 17.6 veterans die by suicide each day. Independent researchers argue the true number may be closer to 44. These higher estimates account for deaths misclassified as accidental overdoses or single-vehicle collisions, and for veterans whose status is not recorded postmortem.

No matter which number you use, the fact remains: the funding is not translating into adequate care. The money is not the problem. Mismanagement, bureaucracy, and political cover are.

The Illusion of Support

From baseball stadiums to burger chains, from billion-dollar government agencies to your Facebook feed, the message is everywhere: veterans are honored, supported, and taken care of.

But look closer. Ask a veteran trying to navigate the VA system how long it took to see a mental health provider. Ask a nonprofit how many hours it spent justifying its own existence to donors who assume the government is doing all the work. Ask someone who wore the uniform and now stands in a food pantry line whether they feel “supported.”

The truth is simple and hard to swallow: patriotism is profitable. And that profit rarely reaches the people who earned it.

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What You Can Do

Start local. Find a veterans-serving nonprofit in your area. Call them. Ask to speak with the founder or the executive director. Ask what they actually do. Ask how many veterans they helped this month. Ask what they need. If the answer is clear, and if the impact is real, then that is a mission worth standing behind.

Do not confuse visibility with value. Some of the loudest voices in the room are the ones doing the least. Patriotism is not measured in hashtags, stadium promotions, or corporate tie-ins. It is measured in time spent, hands lifted, and lives changed.

So stand behind those doing the hard work—the quiet work. The ones who show up when no cameras are rolling. Stand with those who have walked beside the broken and brought them home again.

And do not lend your voice, your money, or your respect to the ones who never lifted a finger for another human life but now build careers and revenue streams on the backs of those who did.

This is not a call for charity. It is a call for accountability. It is time to stop rewarding the performance of patriotism—and start investing in the people who actually live it.

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