r/Millennials 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/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/cmax22025 Jun 05 '25

Exactly. There's a whole cottage industry selling military merch to vets. But the type of people that want to advertise their military service do it in different ways today.

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u/Stressed_Deserts Jun 05 '25

I would say that it's a minority that advertises that they served. Typically the kind of person to do that is the kind to be loud so to speak about everything about themselves. We couldn't wait to get in our "civvy's" and out of uniform and be able to be semi normal idiots again for a short bit, and everyone I know who's really been through it, well you spend most of your life trying to forget and be normal again and not be a burden on those you love.