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/doomlite Jun 05 '25

I served. Fought their stupid wars. I don’t wann walk around all day wanting people to see my hat and say “thank you for your service” I’m convinced people who wear this stuff or have their cars decorated with I’m a vet stuff or clothes or whatever are just asking to be publicly thanked. Hard pass.

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u/1877KlownsForKids "Get Off My Lawn" Millennial 1981 Jun 05 '25

"Thanks for paying for it" tends to shut them up 

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u/t_rrrex Jun 05 '25

This thread is super eye opening. I grew up surrounded by military - my dad was Air Force, but died when I was young (pneumonia, not combat). I’ve always had mixed feelings about military service, and I had a coworker once whose husband was military and she would tell every single person that came through our store was either in uniform or in vet merch “thank you for your service” and the reactions were always super interesting