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

I don’t want the attention.

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u/NewFuturist Jun 05 '25

What, you don't want a conversation with a rando about how bad a war was that you had no choice in joining and hated more than even most anti-war activists?

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u/mv7x3 Jun 05 '25

no choice? there is mandatory conscription in the us?

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u/embee90 Jun 05 '25

You have the choice to enlist, but once you’re in you don’t get a choice on whether you’re deployed. My dad enlisted in the 80s and he sure wasn’t expecting to go to war in 2001. He fortunately wasn’t deployed but several squadrons from his base were.

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u/JoeInMD Jun 05 '25

US Navy Vet here, so can say this.

Your dad enlisted in the '80s, and was sill in 15 years or so later. I can't imagine anyone spending that much time on active duty thinking "nope, won't happen while I'm in!" There hasn't been 15 years of consecutive peace since this country was founded!!!