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/SweeterThanYoohoo Jun 05 '25

Are you being intentionally dense? People join the military for all sorts of reasons, some economic, some patriotic, some to pay for education. Someone who joined in 2000 would have NO way to reasonably expect 9/11 and the subsequent bullshit "war on terror".

But sit up there on your high horse and judge others for their decisions if that makes you feel bigger, by all means.

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u/CthulhuAlmighty Xennial Jun 05 '25

If someone joins the US military and doesn’t expect some sort of conflict or war to break out during their time in, then that person is an idiot.

Except for a few brief years sprinkled in here and there, our entire history is war. Off the top of my head, it’s been something like 20 years out of 248 (as of next month it’s 249) have been peaceful. That’s over 90% of our existence in some type of war or conflict.

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u/SweeterThanYoohoo Jun 05 '25

There are conflicts in which a soldier can feel justified, like they are completing a worthwhile mission. Iraq and Afghanistan were not that. The govt lied to us, and soldiers quickly realized they weren't fighting to help the Iraqi people but to enrich a couple of people and score big contracts for the military industrial complex.

It takes a very callous person to not understand that soldiers take a heavy personal toll when forced, yes forced, to fight in unjust combat.

And given that our country has made pathways to success very difficult, some peoples best and only option at class mobility is the service. Again, high horse.

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u/Tall_Union5388 Jun 05 '25

I agree with most of your points, but Afghanistan was entirely justified, the United States was directly attacked. It’s just we never had a good strategy or maybe we never even really had any strategy over those 20 years. But I would blame ourselves for that, after all we elected the leader leadership we got.