Most of the outcry seems to be based on the premise that protesting the anthem is disrespectful to the military. That's what Trump was saying, and that's why we have people here claiming that every military person they know is for the protests, or against the protests.
My point is that the military seems to have (intentionally or otherwise) co-opted "the flag" and "the anthem" so that military people and the public generally believes that a protest during the anthem is disrespectful to soldier.
But the anthem is not just about the military, as far as I've ever known. I'm pointing out that even at stadiums they don't (usually) say "please rise and honor our troops," they say "please rise and honor America."
So if rising is honoring America, not the military, kneeling is protesting America, not the military. They are getting attention by protesting at a highly visible and symbolic time, and then using that attention to say what the protest is about.
I've also noticed that many people critical of the protests have been saying "they have a right to protest but it would be more effective if . . ." You do here, other posters have too, and Sarah Huckabee was doing it yesterday. So it seems like you recognize the point of the protests. So the protests were successful. Maybe your energy should be spent on addressing the problems being protested, rather than suggesting the way you would have preferred to get the message.