[Skybird]

Offended vanity - that's all.

Mercenaries will hate you if you correctly label them "mercenaries", and soldiers don't like their profession being associated with the bad guys.

Usually American media and Hollywood paints an extremely glorifying picture of the military, which also enjoys far more social prestige in society than you see it in Europe, and especially Germany of course. I remember that some years ago somebody wrote me in the forum that his problem with "our" war movies was that they are not shining, but always so depressing. Okay, that's just an individual comment, but it speaks volumes on the differences between cultures. What is "glory & heroism" for the one side, may border "militarism" for the other.