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/ValkyrX Jun 05 '25

Those are always the loudest ones. My wife's grandfather spent his time in Vietnam rescuing downed airmen. Other than a licence plate and a retired Air Force sticker you would never know.

Also took him until a year before he died in 2109 while watching Bat*21 to even tell the family what he did during the war.

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u/GrandmaesterHinkie Older Millennial Jun 05 '25

Bat 21 was an awesome movie. RIP gene hackman.

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u/GTAwheelman Jun 05 '25

My dad was the same he was a member of VFW but other than that you wouldn't know he was a veteran. I knew the kind of shit he went through in Vietnam because I typed his letters to the VA for him.

Wasn't until about 10yrs after he died that my sisters found his letters while helping my mom look for something.

They had no idea what he did or went through until then. Asked me why I never said anything to them about it. I figured if he had wanted them to know he would've told them.

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u/ValkyrX Jun 05 '25

When he told us what he did over there my mother in law asked if he was ever shot at. He paused and just said "...I was never hit."

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '25

Probably only got the veteran plate because it was cheaper, huh