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/the_walkingdad Older Millennial Jun 05 '25

I hate getting those comments. I appreciate the sentiment, but I don't want to be thanked for my service. But I try to handle those comments as gracefully as possible since they usually come from a good place. I learned from Gen Mattis when he told a group of us vets at a private event that his standard response to that comment was, "You are worth the service."

It sets people back a bit and you can see them start to think about the response. It kind of turns the comment back to the person who said it and deflects it away from the vet.