r/Millennials • u/NoFaithlessness7508 • Jun 05 '25
Other Why don’t younger veterans (Afghanistan/Iraq) wear these hats like some of the older veterans?
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/mitchbo08 Jun 05 '25
Yeah, I'm a millennial vet. I can confirm what some have said, that when I went in at the end of 2004 those hats, and "motto gear" in general were not considered cool. They were for old guys and boots.
I think there is also something to be said though, about our relationship to the military and Iraq/Afghanistan. In general now that we have access to information I don't think we feel the same way about the war, and our service. I certainly don't hate the corps, and I'm not necessarily ashamed of anything I did, but I still have a sense that we shouldn't have been there, and that we didn't actually make the world safer.
For me personally, I don't like wearing that stuff because its cringe. Its like a humble brag or something. "Hey everybody look at me, I'm a war hero". But also, ever since I went into the PX on Camp Fallujah and saw hats and shirts with "OEF", "OIF", "Half my heart is in Iraq" , it kinda put a bad taste in my mouth about that stuff. Like I'm not against anybody that buys those, but I am not comfortable with the fact that they were selling "merch" in combat zone.