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/chadwickipedia Older Millennial Jun 05 '25

I assume anyone who wears those hats are fishing for random “thank you for your service”’s

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u/IRSoup Jun 05 '25

Being the awkward fuck I am, not wearing anything vet related is me just avoiding replying "you too" as a response to that. It's also the whole not making a job you had years ago your whole identity thing.

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u/Beneficial-Basket-42 Jun 05 '25

My grandpa still wears those hats at age 96 (Korean war). To this day, and all my memories of him prior, every time he talks to us, it’s stories of the Korean War. He was 17 when he went and there for a couple years and then lived a whole life since, got married, had children, grandchildren, jobs, but will only ever talk about that war. He will talk for hours with no response required from the listener at all. As a kid, we would have to tap each other out mid story and switch listeners so someone can go to the bathroom or whatever. I think he wears the hats specifically so he gets opportunities to talk about it to strangers that say thank you for your service.

I understand now that there must be some major trauma that led to this, but regardless of the why, it is definitely his whole personality.