According to this story on the BBC, Gen Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the British Army is concerned about "the growing gulf between the Army and the nation".

He says:

"Soldiers want to be understood and they want to be respected for their commitment.

When a young soldier has been fighting in Basra or Helmand, he wants to know that the people in their local pub know and understand what he has been doing and why.

Soldiers are genuinely concerned when they come back from Iraq to hear the population that sent them being occasionally dismissive or indifferent about their achievements".

Part of the problem is that much (the majority?) of the population disapproves of the UK's involvement in these two wars of questionable legitimacy, and secondly there is also the long standing issue of serviceman's behaviour whilst off-duty.

As someone who has lived in or near a garrison town for many years, the mutual antipathy isbased on the soldiers' traditional penchant for recreating their work environment in the town's pubs at a weekend. They may relish being in a war zone, the locals do not.

As the old saying goes, you have to earn respect, and any good deeds in a far-off land will be far less visible than local misbehaviour.