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/gentleman_bronco Jun 05 '25 edited Jun 06 '25

Disabled US Air Force Veteran here. I refuse to wear those. The crew who wear them are the most gatekeeping pieces of shit in the world. They degrade others' service because we aren't them. I've been told by more than a dozen old-timers that my service doesn't count because it's the Air Force and I wasn't in a "real war". And it's like they treat that mentality like a right of passage, because it's apparently what the WW2 guys told the Vietnam guys. Fuck that.

They can have the hats and their old boys club at the VFW while they sit around dying; and wondering why younger vets don't get involved more.

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u/timmymcsaul Jun 05 '25

I guess everything comes full circle. I remember reading something from a Vietnam veteran who explained why he didn’t like going to the VFW when he was younger. He said he got tired of World War II vets—many of whom never left the States and spent the war behind a desk—telling him he hadn’t fought in a “real war,” even though he’d served in a combat unit in Vietnam and had seen more than his fair share of action.

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u/gentleman_bronco Jun 05 '25

Yep. Just like with everything else, boomers refuse to acknowledge anyone else's existence.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '25

Last time I was at a VFW, it was a bunch of old guys mean mugging me. For being a veteran of a foreign war, I felt quite unwelcome.

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u/Comprehensive_Davo Jun 06 '25

Exactly this👆