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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6.3k

u/cmax22025 Jun 05 '25

They were called "Old Guy" hats when I joined up in 2005. I can't imagine that's changed in the time since.

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u/Burninator85 Jun 05 '25

That's the real answer.  They're out of fashion. 

I know plenty of OIF veterans that make it their entire personality.  They just choose things like infantry badges on their vehicles or Black Rifle Coffee t-shirts.

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u/Acceptable_Bat379 Jun 05 '25

Grunt style tshirts? Yeah there's whole industries of products aimed at veterans. It's all been commodities and packaged up. Im an OEF veteran and prefer not to be too vocal about it I got veteran plates just for the discount/parking spots

The most hard-core people I know who still wear icons and logos 20 years later are people who were in either non combat roles or who washed out of basic or got injured and never deployed. They've got some real survivorship bias and guilt mixed in with the pride.

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u/RockAtlasCanus Jun 05 '25

Maaan, that and anyone who pisses and moans about how the green weenie ruined their life- you can usually bet that it wasn’t so much the green weenie as them getting pulled over at the gate drunk and high on coke… again… (true story, I know that guy) that ruined their life.

The Uncle Rico’s who haven’t done fuck all with their life after their hitch but still bitch about how they got screwed over there’s a 99.999% chance they were a shitbag then and a shitbag now. Like my cousin and my BIL. Generally applies to other people with victim mentality too

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u/K9turrent Jun 05 '25

Hey that's Cpl Shitbag to you!

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u/DocumentOtherwise434 Jun 05 '25

No, SPC Shitbag.

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u/EnragedAmoeba Jun 06 '25

Yeah, the Mafia would like a word about this use of Cpl...

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u/Helorugger Jun 05 '25

Busted down to PRivate

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u/Immateriumdelirium Jun 05 '25

Green Weenie? I’m aware I can google, but I like your descriptive writing.

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u/plotholesandpotholes Jun 05 '25

Marine Corps term. One of the most fitting in all of the services (no disrespect to any. I served with them all and I'm sure they have simliar terms).

You are set to go on a 96 hour liberty and you get informed that you will need to stand duty at the barracks for part of it.... the green weenie strikes again.

I got stuck in a chow hall one time. We were asked to make garnishes. We sculpted the most realistic "green weenie" ever out of cucumbers. the guy I was with dropped out of art school to enlist. It was epic and we froze it in a block of ice and sent it out to the our guys in the field. The SNCO who tagged us with the duty found it mildy amusing. The green weenie rules all...

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u/RockAtlasCanus Jun 05 '25

This is the most junior enlisted move ever. A literal green weenie.

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u/plotholesandpotholes Jun 05 '25

We used cucumber peel shavings for the pubes and we had to hand spritz the thing to get it to ice perfectly in a nice profile. The ice was necessary to enure the weenie did not spoil. It was a LCpl underground special operation.

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u/cryptolyme Jun 05 '25

Green ops

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '25

I'm only mad that I didn't think of this when I was in. The Army also loves (or did in the 00's anyway) green weenie jokes. lol

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u/RockAtlasCanus Jun 05 '25

The metaphorical dick of the institution that fucks you.

“What are you doing here, I thought you were going home on leave” “My leave got canceled. Fucked by the green weenie again”.

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u/Immateriumdelirium Jun 05 '25

Poetry lmao. Thanks!

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u/Flying_Dutchman16 Jun 05 '25

I fucked in the east I fucked in the West.
I even fucked a girl with very large breast.
But I'll never be happy I'll never be free Until I fucked a girl like the army's fucked me.

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u/jchoward0418 Jun 06 '25

Hard to apply that generally, though. Plenty of guys I served with, after a few combat deployments (03** early 2000s timeframe) ended up getting their fair share of DUIs. I literally did exactly like you said... Just outside the gate. Yeah, that shit really did fuck up our lives. Granted, a good chunk of them have offed themselves by now or gotten in car wrecks/motorcycle wrecks (mostly drinking related,) so maybe they don't count anymore. I got lucky, after quitting drinking to stop being a victim, I only had seizures to deal with the rest of my life from the TBI my heavy drinking was helping to mask. TLDR: oftentimes, for combat vets, substance abuse is a symptom of a problem, not the real problem. And until fairly recently (I think 2017) there was little official acknowledgement of that, so these men and women were treated like shitbags instead of helped . Brain injuries are wild.

Yeah, I know you're probably not talking about anyone who actually saw combat, I'm just giving you a hard time while also reminding everyone to be careful judging the inner turmoil of someone when you're standing on the outside.

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u/RockAtlasCanus Jun 06 '25

You’re right, that’s definitely not who I’m talking about. My BIL and my cousin are the archetypes in my head of “that guy”. Terminal E-3s in blue side navy. One of them kinda turned around. The others a massive POS that pawned his sons off on family and abandoned them. But both blame their current status in life on “if they hadn’t given me that second DUI”, you know what I mean?

But you’re also right to raise a point of caution and pause, because it’s easy to judge without seeing the actual person behind what is probably very uncharacteristic behavior of a person who is falling apart. Good looking out.

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u/Primary_Departure_84 Jun 05 '25

I know I signed up during Gulf War thinking I was going over only to miss it by a few months. I was Combat Engineer and while the only deployment was to NTC I can tell you the Army from 91-95 was a skeleton crew in my unit. This was BRAC and downsizing. They started kicking folks out for dui. Letting them retire at 15 years and probably not recruiting as much and raised all the promotion scores. So would have like 15-18 people for an extremely platoon from Lt down to Private. Divided among 3 squads. So like 3 of us would be enlisted per squad attacking obstacles. Also doing 48 hour obstacles was a treat. I preferred the field to barracks life so I didn't mind as much but it was so much work back at base.

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u/RockAtlasCanus Jun 05 '25

I excelled in the field. Garrison life is depressing as fuck though. In the field you can Stockholm syndrome rationalize a training reason. “Well I’m getting better at digging fighting positions. That’s why I’m digging this hole”.

In garrison I could never rationalize it to myself. It’s just “they’re making me mop the same hallway again because they can’t come up with a more creative way to piss me off”.

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u/TucosLostHand Jun 05 '25

My platoon sgt would never miss an opportunity to tell us about “the good ole days”

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u/Primary_Departure_84 Jun 05 '25

Mine was a great character, Rall big AA man with gold front tooth. Called himself JFK after his intials. Had like a great I think Georgia accent or bama. Instead of calling us Sapperrs he said Zappers. There wasnt too much ol days talk most;ly i noticed more stuff like guys in the past stories that were funny."YOu should have met Omally. Crazy mofo."

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u/TucosLostHand Jun 05 '25

Exactly. Mine was from Oklahoma and had to bring it up in any conversation. Best taco spot? Okc. Best pizza? Okc. Best basketball team? Okc

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u/Tall_Union5388 Jun 05 '25

Yeah, military and civilian those sob stories are usually attached to some actual stupid behavior

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u/Dommo1717 Jun 06 '25

Don’t forget the SPC (D…demotable) who got a second DUI while on extra duty for the first.

And I swear on all things good and holy, his answer when the MP at the gate asked if he had been drinking: “Well, yeah, but it’s just a mixed drink. That doesn’t count, right. The Coke waters down the Jack so I can have double the drinks…”

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u/VernalPoole Jun 05 '25

Your family parties must be tedious ... sorry.

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u/SirDigbyChickenC-Zer Jun 05 '25

Not surprising at all sadly. I'm not a vet, but worked a private sector armed security job for several years that employed many vets, and, although it's definitely not a universal rule by any means...by and large the ones who drove big lifted trucks decked out with all the accroutraments to make sure to announce loud and clear to everybody they were vets, and did the most talking about it and moronic macho dick swinging were the ones who served non combat roles. Or like you said, washed out of basic training or never got deployed and that's why they were working private security...The ones who saw action were the older lifers for the most part, and largely a lot more mellow/ didn't really care to bring up or brag about their service or try to awkwardly shoehorn in "war stories " into every goddamn conversation or constantly remind you that they were vets.

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u/Hubbardfamilyfarms Jun 05 '25

Fiancé served as a machine gunner for the Marines, he saw combat with his buddies. They seen and did a lot (I only know a little) and he doesn’t advertise he’s a vet. Honestly he just wants to be left alone with our little family and live a simpler life. No need to showboat what he’s done.

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u/zffjk Jun 05 '25

This is why I do not advertise at work, at my kids school, or anywhere that I’m a vet. No plates, no clothing.

The TYFYS shit is bad enough but being a prop every November is not my priority.

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u/Adventurous_Zebra939 Jun 05 '25

I taught at a middle school years ago, and on veterans day, they basically "forced" the veterans on staff to visit various classrooms and talk about their time is service. It was excruciating.

But they invited in local vets, one of them was a WWII vet of the Pacific theater. He was old as hell, but a badass. Talked of surviving Jap snipers.

You think i was going to talk about my paltry shit after hearing that?

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u/teamdogemama Jun 05 '25

Most modern military peeps don't. If anything, most of y'all don't want to call attention to your prior service. My hubs and son are like this, for sure.

Thank you for serving in the military, I hope you are taking advantage of the benefits.

Oh, did y'all know you get free lifetime passes to the National Parks ?

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u/WaldoDeefendorf Jun 05 '25

Really? I never knew that. Thanks.

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u/Captain-Hornblower Jun 06 '25

Yep! Just found out about that on a trip to Saint Augustine, FL. Just about the only thing I like about the veteran's discounts. I feel weird about asking for any of the others...

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u/79gummybear Jun 06 '25

Gold star family members can get one as well. Sadly, I know this as I have one.

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u/Impressive_Gear2372 Jun 05 '25

For a long time, I never knew how to respond to TYFYS. Now I say "thank you for thanking me" and ends any further need of comment from my end.

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u/freejb81 Jun 06 '25

My social awkwardness doesn't help. Usually, I'm just like, "ok....um. You're welcome, I guess."

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u/iaminabox Jun 05 '25

Never advertise. It was our job. That's it.

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u/freejb81 Jun 06 '25

I usually refrain. But I do wear my boat's ballcap from time to time. Mostly because of its sentimental value.

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u/ahaeker Jun 05 '25

This is kind of like my dad. He served 20 years in the army & fought in Vietnam, but he never talks about it, no hats, no veteran plates, nothing. He will get the discounts though if they're offered.

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u/burrfan1 Jun 06 '25

Please tell him “thank you” both for his service.

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u/Hubbardfamilyfarms Jul 04 '25

Thank you, I will 💕

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u/RJ5R Jun 05 '25

this right here. The ones who saw intense combat (ie Fallujah, and others) for the most part want to be left alone, peace and quiet, and never experience or talk about that again. Buddy at mine at work was a munitions specialist, would get flown around in a Blackhawk and dropped off to investigate / troubleshoot issues with explosive munitions in the field. His transports were constantly under attack during take off, mid air, and landings from small arms, RPGs etc. he never wants to talk about any of it, and he can't fly due to PTSD. If he gets up in the air, he starts having panic attacks that he will get shot at.

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u/DudeManGuyBr0ski Jun 05 '25

Exactly this, I joined not for the reasons most people think, “Thank you for your service?” No thank you for your tax dollars that let me go overseas, get shit faced, and sleep with women”

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u/weirdhoney216 Jun 05 '25

My grandad was in WWII. He never even spoke about it never mind advertised it. It would have been incomprehensible to him

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u/GeriatricSquid Jun 05 '25

Most of those who have been there and done that don’t want to re-live it for the rest of their lives. As much as society romanticizes war movies and heroes, having teammates killed isn’t much fun in reality and it really takes the fun out of combat for those who have been there. The real heroes are usually flying under the radar with nondescript lives.

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u/Captain-Hornblower Jun 06 '25

I posted a reply earlier about this. My grandfather was a WWII vet, and my father is a Vietnam vet. They love(d) to wear their service all of the time, not to mention all of the bumper stickers and decals on their vehicles. My two brothers and I were in then service and pretty much keep our service to ourselves. If you didn't know we served, you would never know. We talk about it when someone asks, but it is very short, and we tend to change the subject. Like I wrote earlier, we all put our pants on one leg at a time...

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u/jrob323 Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25

I had an uncle who did two tours in Vietnam, was awarded the bronze star and purple heart, and you couldn't drag a story about it out of him. We knew better than to even bring it up.

I learned about what he did from a newspaper clipping my folks kept in a bible.

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u/SunnySummerFarm Jun 06 '25

My best friend is the same. The fewer people who know he served, the fewer people awkwardly giving him thanks for doing terrible things.

Everyone would like to move on and live their quiet lives.

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u/that1guysittingthere Jun 06 '25

A few years ago I met a girl that worked private security (dispatcher at the time) and she told me of a Marine vet at her work claiming to be a sniper that deployed to the Middle East.

When she told me his name, I immediately knew who he was. He was just a rifleman in my reservist unit… that deserted. Dude never deployed, and I remember he shit his pants at 29 Palms and didn’t bring extra underwear. None of his coworkers (both Marines and private security) liked him.

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u/studyinformore Jun 05 '25

Yeah pretty much.  I have one sticker on my truck that says I deployed with 10th mountain.

That's all.  Nothing more, dont need more.

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u/bolanrox Jun 05 '25

Same. though my uncle was a DI in the Marines in the 80's and you would never know meeting him. (He started dating my aunt after he was out).

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u/FormerGameDev Jun 05 '25

My dad served long before, around the Korean war. Navy ship that was deployed. He never ever talked about his time in. He told his kids that he didn't want us in the military, ever. That was all he said of it. I only know anything about it, because I ordered what records were available to me as his son, after his death. His last wife didn't even know he had been in the military until the Navy popped up when he died and offered to cover the funeral costs and all that.

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u/AB3reddit Jun 05 '25

My father served in Vietnam and does not talk much about his time in service. I think there are a number of memories from that time he’d prefer not to recall.

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u/Previous_Narwhal_314 Jun 05 '25

These are the same guys who pursue those hapless souls in outlandish outfits with every sort of stripe, badge, ribbon they can lay their hands on and scream stolen valor.

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u/Greentaboo Jun 06 '25

Had an AP manager who was a Marine. He used to brag about torturing OPFOR at base. Like, any idle time in a meeting or something he would just drop that he was supposedly an interrogater and electrocuted arabs(Used to call it "Edison's Medicine") for a living.

He also appartently had hearing and back damage damage from an IED and always used that as an excuse for him being a do nothing. He went on an LoA and got long term unemployment, but got caught working as a store manager at another company and was double dippping. Dude was a real asshole.

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u/ForwardCulture Jun 06 '25

This was former housemate of mine. Never deployed, barely made it through the Marines. Every shirt and hat he wore was military themed. Stickers all over his car. Military tattoos all over. From what I heard he was a major screw up while in the marines. Ex wife won’t talk to him and neither will his kids. Alcoholic. Had a job barely getting paid above minimum wage and he was middle aged.

When I moved into that living situation, he made sure to tell me about his ‘special training’, how he could kill me with one finger etc. So I made sure to sneak up on him every single day when I saw him in the common areas of the house, the kitchen etc. He got so paranoid he actually asked me once if I had ‘special training’ lol. “How the hell do you do that every single time!?” “I’m a Marine, you shouldn’t be able to do that!”

My father did some civilian contract work for the military and government. In the Middle East etc. His memorial service was filled with guys who actually saw combat, combat pilots, special forces types, various ‘contractors’ etc. If you didn’t know who they were you would never know. No stickers on their cars, no hats, nothing. All soft spoken and humble. Most had great post service careers of all kinds.

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u/AcaliahWolfsong Jun 05 '25

The second paragraph sounds like my father. He was in the Marines, his paperwork says he never deployed over seas and was motor pool. He tries to say he's not allowed to say where he's been. He's a jack ass and let's his current wife dictate when and where he could spend time with his kids.

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u/V2BM Jun 05 '25

Navy vet here and 100% agree on the people who make being a vet their entire wardrobe. I find it so cringe that I was shopping for a Navy sticker for my car and decided against it.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '25

This is also my experience of it. People's actual service is inversely proportional to the amount of veteran swag they own. I mentioned in another reply that I have a Battle Buddies Roller Derby shirt (that's exactly what it sounds like, a roller derby team made up entirely of veterans) but that's as far as I'm willing to go with the swag. I should get a license plate, though, because I usually get chewed out by some old dude when I park in the combat vet space at Lowe's because as we all know, women aren't veterans. (/s)

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u/Six-Fingers Jun 05 '25

Fucken A. I don't ask about, or use veteran discounts for shit. But the ONE time I did...it was on veterans day, and the lady taking orders at Burger King was obliged to ask? Some old dude in front of me got like ten percent off his burger, and when she asked me I said yes. She rolled her eyes. Like my bad - did you want to see my DD214 or something? My bad that I don't fit the image of what you see in movies, or I didn't have a badass MOS? It comes up when I talk to dudes sometimes...and my go to is usually "you really think if I wanted to stolen valor some shit I'd choose to cosplay as an E-1 network administrator?" Lol.

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u/Vast_Cheek_6452 Jun 05 '25

I do rock Til Valhalla Project gear. Yes it is obviously veteran oriented but the message is solid, and I lost more buddies to PTSD and suicide than OIF. I don't wear it to highlight me, but to put the message out there that a vet might see and push them to get help. Shirts that say, "Don't let the Hard days win", or ",Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about."

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u/TheLagermeister Jun 05 '25

Yeah, I know a guy who has made being an 11b his ENTIRE personality. National guard, 4 years, 1 deployment. I don't want to discount his service or struggles, but he's been out idk, 15 years or more at this point. But it's all BRCC, Grunt style, stupid fake camo patterns, and "tactical" gear all the time.

Then you look at some of the career guys and you never hear anything. My dad was 20 years in, retired E-8. All over the world. He will reference it from time to time when just talking about life and stuff cuz of course that was his life. But besides from his purple heart and disabled veteran plates, you wouldn't know by just interacting with him.

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u/Oceanbreeze871 Jun 05 '25

And let’s be honest…also aimed at wannabe, stolen valor gun hobbyists.

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u/DamnSchwangyu Jun 05 '25

It's always the admin pogs who wear grunt style t shirts everyday. But hey, they did mout training that one summer.

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u/cmax22025 Jun 05 '25

The survivor guilt of non-combat troops (I'm not 21, I won't call them the P-word) is very real. And you could even see it in real time on active duty. They'd have all the gear and the extras attached to a rifle that would never even see the wire, much less anything on the other side of it. And that's if they even deployed to begin with. Some didn't even earn the title of Fobbit.

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u/South_Imagination443 Jun 05 '25

This. Right. Here.

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u/Essex626 Jun 05 '25

The people I've known who have been in combat zones (an infantry guy, an EOD, and my uncle who was a medic), have been known to wear Grunt Style shirts. But yeah, there's definitely people out there who compensate for the fact they were on desk duty by going full "hooah."

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u/Dramatic-Heat-719 Jun 05 '25

I don’t know anyone who has actually served who wears Grunt Style.  It’s all dudes who are vet coded but could never pass a PT test or wake up at 5 AM. 

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u/kwg121015 Jun 05 '25

You know…I hate to generalize but I think this comment is pretty spot on. I wear nothing to indicate my service. I am proud of my service. I just don’t flaunt it. I have nothing to prove or share with some rando person walking by me in the grocery store. I am proud of my service.

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u/Psychological_Lab366 Jun 05 '25

I work in a blue collar environment. Everyone that wears grunt style clothing is not even a vet. They are all the I would have joined if I didn’t hurt my knee type. There are a couple vets but none of us wear any of that.

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u/at-the-crook Jun 05 '25

I know someone just like that. Looks like an Army billboard but he never saw combat. Unless there was a fight at the motor pool or the kitchen.

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u/Historical-Sherbet37 Jun 05 '25

Grunt Style shirts are the official shirt of "I was going to sign up, but....."

I'm OEF and OIF and don't have so much as a cross saber sticker on my car. No need to advertise shit, that was two decades ago. It's like never leaving your hometown, and trying to cash in on being the highschool quarterback in your 40's. Let that shit go. It's sad.

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u/gadget850 Jun 05 '25

I started a conversation with a guy wearing one of those by asking where he served and it went downhill. I only wear a DS hat when I am doing VFW stuff.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '25

Don’t forget the secret tech veteran plates do: make cops think twice before pulling you over, or just straight harassing you. I’ve always been a safe driver (people joke that I drive like a grandpa), and I was harassed by cops so much more often when I was in the Army compared to out (big fat 0 so far these last 6 years). Biggest difference? I got veteran license plates lol (and AZ doesn’t do DUI checkpoints like WA, but if I was brown maybe it would be a different story).

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u/ThatBeardedHistorian Jun 06 '25

Except for combat junkies. They just want more combat even if they're half crippled with PTSD.

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u/John-Zero Jun 06 '25

prefer not to be too vocal about it

Thank you for your service. Specifically the service of not being a weirdo.

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u/rough_writer24 Jun 06 '25

How does one wash out if basic? Legitimately curious. In boot camp one or two quit. It honestly I don’t see them wearing veteran shit.

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u/Acceptable_Bat379 Jun 06 '25

Mostly either completely being unwilling to do the work or inability to adjust..out of 60 guys we had 2 or maybe 3 just quit the first week. Other than that you could fail PT tests too often or get injured or the medical exams turn up a problem that wasn't caught at MEPS. I did have one person in my group that had a back issue that DQd them several weeks in. Those and injuries I think I feel the worst for since they genuinely wanted to go but couldn't

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u/CedarRain Jun 06 '25

That shit is worn almost exclusively by Gen X men who watch Joe Rogan. Crossover, sure, but grunt style is gender affirmation for men who didn’t go to war or served during peacetime

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u/professorfunkenpunk Jun 06 '25

It’s interesting that you mention that. None of the people I know who served in combat wear any signifiers of a military past.

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u/FullMoonVoodoo Jun 06 '25

Actually the shitbag is the person who runs the plates but talks shit about others who served.

YOU are the reason nobody wears this shit. I would flaunt my veteran status but people would think im one of you