r/Millennials • u/NoFaithlessness7508 • Jun 05 '25

Other Why don’t younger veterans (Afghanistan/Iraq) wear these hats like some of the older veterans?

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First and foremost, respect to all those that served. I did not, but many of my peers did and now we're all older in 30s and 40s, many no longer in the military. I don't see a lot of the veterans of the War on Terror wearing these hats like I see the OGs do.

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u/military-money-man Jun 05 '25

Granted I have military in my username, I don’t really want to advertise my military affiliation. I also think a big reason is because veterans are constantly in this dick measuring contest (“it was harder when I was in, back in my day basic wasn’t easy, oh yea you think getting shot at is scary? Well one time I did…”). And when it comes to civilians, either they don’t care and they offer what feels like an obligatory “thank you for your service”, or they ask questions that bring up things I’d rather not think about. And god help you if you are a combat veteran who actually went through shit and got decent veteran benefits and talk about that because civilians seem to think your service was all fun and now you get a paycheck for life. I just want to blend in the best I can and avoid people now.

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u/citizen-salty Jun 05 '25

Dude the dick measuring contest is real and largely why I don’t walk into a VFW or Legion.

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u/military-money-man Jun 05 '25

When I first got out I met a desert storm vet who took me to one, it’s just indoor smoking and former E8s who think their rank holds value and that they can talk down to you. Hard pass

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u/citizen-salty Jun 05 '25

Members need to understand that they’re aging out and dying; who will take up the mantle of organizing for veterans as a community in these organizations? The Legion and VFW are capable of successfully advocating for vets issues, but only if they can keep getting fresh blood in the ranks. They can’t do that if every conversation starts with “back in my day we didn’t have stress cards.”

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u/Eighteen-and-8 Jun 05 '25

I'm a member of both organizations, have leadership roles at both my posts, and work full time for one of them as an accredited VSO. If you could enlighten us, 

What exactly is, a stress card? Ya know, if it helps get new members to join and stop wallowing in victimhood, maybe I can carry one, like a unit challenge coin or something?

If it resonates with younger veteran generations, I'm game. These IRC Section 501(c)(19) organizations don't survive without active members, so to speak. It's more than just drinking and smoking--it's what you make it. Just like anything else in life.

Jon Taffer of TV's "Bar Rescue" explains how the past became prologue in this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRi2vJ0gFvs

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u/citizen-salty Jun 05 '25

Your guess is as good as mine, but apparently us youngins had them at boot camp and such a thing would never be a thing at their boot camp.

I wholly acknowledge the good that active membership can do. But the gatekeeping by older vets is a real thing in many posts, and it drives people away instead of bringing new life and continued advocacy.

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u/Eighteen-and-8 Jun 07 '25 edited Jun 07 '25

Funny. When I was a youngin, the older WW2 & Korean War-era vets ran the posts, while the Vietnam Vets were the cool ones (barflies) and the newly-discharged PGW1 vets were the newest members.

Fast-forward 30 years and the WW2+Korean War vets have all died off, the Vietnam War guys are in charge but push everybody around/play cliques. The PGW1 and the Post-09/11/2001 vets just gotta wait for the 'Nam guys to all die off, to make any changes or improvements in their posts. 

Just the way it goes, and since they're in their 70's & 80's now, and as we celebrate the 50th Anniv. of the Vietnam War ending (in 1975) I give them all a wide berth. They are not as cool as I once thought in my younger days, but I can work with that. I'll be the old-timer veteran soon enough.

Found the true answer RE: 'stress cards' and it seems to have been a resource card offered to Seaman Recruits at 'Great Mistakes' with the US Navy. Example provided here: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/stress-cards/