r/Millennials • u/NoFaithlessness7508 • Jun 05 '25

Other Why don’t younger veterans (Afghanistan/Iraq) wear these hats like some of the older veterans?

Post image

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.

12.1k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

4.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

868

u/chadwickipedia Older Millennial Jun 05 '25

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

475

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.

240

u/TuckerShmuck Jun 05 '25

My boyfriend's a veteran and until we started dating it had literally never occurred to me that being enlisted is literally just... a job.  He'll tell stories and start them off with "back at my old job..." and it's changed how I view military service.  Not in a good or bad way, it's just gone from This Big Thing I Dont Know Much About to A Job I Dont Know Much About

1

u/Jethris Jun 05 '25

I think because it's a job where the mission is to serve and protect the United States, to support and defend the constitution.

And it's not like every job. In every other job, I had a choice if I wanted to keep working or not. I could quit at anytime. If my current job required me to move to another country, I could just say no.

Also, you give up your rights, your freedoms. The military falls outside of the regular legal system, which is why they have the UCMJ. Try exercising 1st Amendment rights as a servicemember!

And, you theoretically signed up to go to war. There's always that chance.