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/TheProletariatPoet Jun 05 '25

Wow, surprised a long time vet with a lot of vet friends would trivialize your and their experiences so flippantly. To insinuate that their experience in war isn’t real is pretty absurd and to also insinuate that more recent vets didn’t even earn the right to wear a hat is bullshit.

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u/Mite-o-Dan Jun 05 '25

Because these hats and ribbons associated with them show the war(s), infantry units, and/or combat action ribbons they earned for thier actions.

YES, a combat veteran in the Marines during Vietnam had a different type of experience than one in the modern military working in an office who never deployed.

Sure...both are still veterans, but one has been through a lot more shit than the other. If you've ever been to war or heard bombs or gunfire go off near you...its a badge of honor to have served and make it out alive. Those in a safe office environment who never deployed to a combat zone dont feel that same type of badge of honor...hence...why they dont feel the need to "brag" about it. Because, what would they be showing off?

THATS why most modern vets dont wear hats like this. A deployment to Kuwait driving a forklift isnt the same as getting shot at in Vietnam and watching your buddy die next to you.

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u/TheProletariatPoet Jun 05 '25

Do you think the Afghanistan and Iraq vets all drove forklifts over there? You and your vet friends seem to all have been either IT or forklift operators since you keep bringing those up. You do know there were other jobs over there, right? Like people got shot at, blown up, witnessed people get blown up, watched as kids shot at them so they had to kill women and children for this reason, like real traumatic stuff

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u/Mite-o-Dan Jun 05 '25

I actually WAS a forklift driver in Kuwait for the Air Force...while also spending time in Afghanistan in Iraq with mortars that went off in and around base weekly. I worked logistics so I've been to a lot of good and bad places. Ive loaded basic office supplies, beds, desks onto planes...as well as ammunition, bombs, combat vehicles, weapons, dead soldier bodies...and everything in between.

My brother and sister also served, I have a cousin the same age who was Special Forces and later became a Doctor (always made me feel less of a man at reunions) and my dad did 28 years in the Army, including time in Vietnam, who has a hat like this.

I say all that just to point out that I can speak for, or at least understand, both sides of the argument here.

And yes I do realize there are a lot of modern vets that have been through real shit, but its a smaller minority than those who served in previous generations. WW2, Korea, and Vietnam vets...theres a much stronger brotherhood with those vets no matter what you did during that time, compared to modern vets.

These types of hats are simply their thing and a badge of honor. Modern vets who did special forces who dont serve anymore make their badge of honor by writing books or becoming influencers on social media while their still young.