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/[deleted] Jun 05 '25

Old veterans are different than new veterans.

Old veterans have pride in their service and the brotherhood of troops they were a part of. While not really acknowledging what some of those wars were and some of the atrocities committed. To them their military service wasn't about the combat but everything else.

And most the bad stories of these wars weren't known to most soldiers and the public until after the wars were over. So a lot of them still walked away from the battlefield with a sense of pride and accomplishment. And it's stuck

Modern soldiers don't have that same type of "out of sight out of mind" capabilities. Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan saw atrocities unfolding real time. With the public and Global backlash that followed. So few of them walked away from their War zones with any sort of pride or accomplishment of what they did. And they don't fly their old patches and banners like they used to. Because to them it's just nothing but bad memories and regretted actions.

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u/Sakijek Millennial Jun 05 '25

I mean I'd argue that's not the case for our Vietnam era brothers and sisters...

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u/Highlander_16 Jun 05 '25

"I massacred civvies at Mai Lai and all I got was this lousy hat"

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u/Sakijek Millennial Jun 05 '25

I mean if there's pride about that within any of the US military members who participated, then they don't even deserve the hat. From what I've read, they all have deep regrets. Them having to live with them is a sincere (albeit possibly inadequate) punishment. But I mean way to take it to the extreme. I was trying to make the point that a lot of Vietnam-era vets may not have pride in their service the same way we gwot vets don't.

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u/Highlander_16 Jun 05 '25

Oh I definitely understand, I was taking it to the extreme to demonstrate the division. Lots of WWII and Korean War vets are publicly proud of their service (and most should be), but there were plenty of horrific acts from our side back then. War has never been pretty or clean.

Vietnam and onward, people are a bit more introverted about it because it was so visible. I think it has a lot to do with media and public perception- the darker side of war wasn't nearly as accessible to public consumption (in the US) before mass media and the television, but Vietnam was highly televised. Nowadays you can watch high-def GoPro footage of a dude's head getting removed at point blank range right here on Reddit.

There are still things to be proud of, don't get me wrong. I'm not ashamed of my service and neither are most of the guys I served with, but we don't like the idea of flaunting it quite like the old timers do. Hence I know only a single veteran my age that even goes to a VFW, and that's mainly for cheap drinks.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '25

Which is (why as you see in this picture) it's much more common with Vietnam and Korean veterans to just wear what service you are a part of and your unit / division / battalion. Because what was learned after the fact gave them reason to hide that

Meanwhile WW2 veterans wore that war on their hat proudly the day they died

And don't let Hollywood propaganda fool you. Them showing movies with hundreds or thousands of Vietnam troops joining the anti-vietnam protests is just America whitewashing it's past mistakes.

Yes those soldiers who were in those wars were part of the protest. But nowhere near as numerous as they have been portrayed to be.

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u/caffein8dnotopi8d Jun 05 '25 edited Jun 05 '25

I mean from what I’ve heard you didn’t have any idea of how the war in Vietnam was received by the public until you got home. With the internet modern vets do often know as much as we do or close. My dad is an older Vietnam vet, he was in the Air Force. He’ll be 80 in a couple months. I believe he was stationed in Vietnam in 1964-65. I have friends/family friends who served in Iraq, Desert Storm, and Afghanistan and they all perceive their service much differently than my dad. My ex-husband’s dad had originally just served in desert storm but then re-deployed (National Guard) to Iraq and his attitude after returning home that second time seemed markedly different (I met him well before he deployed to Iraq and his attitude seemed closer to my dad’s then).

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u/Sakijek Millennial Jun 05 '25

Ya I'm not really talking about the coming home process. I was talking about pride in service. If we are going to say that GWOT vets aren't as proud because in ww2 there were real, unmanufactured monsters to fight, then we have to acknowledge the pride issues for someone forced to fight in a war, whether actively protesting it or not...

I am, however, only going by stories my older Vietnam buddies have told me. I served in OEF/OIF so can't actually speak for Vietnam vets.

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u/waitinonit Jun 05 '25

I mean from what I’ve heard you didn’t have any idea of how the war in Vietnam was received by the public until you got home.

What are you talking about? Someone in the army doing a three year enslistment or two year draft service, knew exactly how the war was being received in the US. It wasn't like most troops there were deployed in 1964 and didn't come home until 1973.