Danny - if I had met you in Liverpool after their "blitz" I daresay I would have joined in the handshaking - and quite right too!
In my case, however, if anybody wants to thank me for my service I hope they realise that a lot of it consisted of trips to pleasant places in the sunshine, with nobody firing at me en route. My total experience of being under fire consisted of being around the corner when a grenade was chucked during an operation I was on in Aden (nobody hurt). I distinctly remember sitting beside the hotel pool on a long weekend in Las Vegas and asking the rest of the crew if they realised we were getting paid for this!
No handshakes required!