A majority of younger veterans said they feel uncomfortable when they are told “thank you for your service,” a new poll found.
Ahead of Veterans Day on Saturday, a survey found disparities between young military members and their older counterparts in how they prefer to be recognized for their service.
Among younger military members and veterans — age 18 to 29 — 70 percent said they feel uncomfortable or awkward when they are thanked for their service. Only 24 percent of older members, 65 years and up, say the same, the Endeavor Analytics and YouGov poll found.
“This data shows that military service members and our veterans want Americans to go beyond small talk to connect with them on a deeper level, including learning more about their service, honoring each veteran’s service in ways in which they feel comfortable talking about it,” Robert F. Whittle Jr., retired Army major general and United Services Automobile Association (USAA) chief of staff, said in a statement.
It’s a weird thing to do. The lionization of the military is unhealthy for a democracy.
Thank a teacher, doctor, scientist or firefighter instead.
Don’t forget postal workers!
Also sanitization workers. We shouldn’t underestimate the importance of keepings things clean, have the sewage running, or taking our trash.
They truly are the thin brown line.
streets and sans is my heroes
Thank you for not going postal!
Convenience store workers are the true heroes under fire.
I’m a volunteer firefighter. When i first met my neighbour(an american who was previously in their army no less) he said “thank you for your service” upon learning this. I can confirm that I also felt awkward as fuck hearing that phrase.
I’ve always thought it was more for the person doing the thanking wanting everyone around know they’re more patriotic than everyone else
Performative patriotism.
No different than trying to have the most flags on your house.
Goes right along with their performative prayer
Oh man. Yeah. I won’t get into that dick waving contest. I just make sure mines the biggest.
I guess I always thought it was the thing to do, growing up in the wake of viet nam. I don’t anymore b/c I’ve heard from many not to.
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This sounds like the most concise description of the experience
“I was trained to be a killer for 8 weeks, and was nothing but for 21 years. I was given 2 weeks to become a civilian again.”
-MSgt Brad “Iceman” Colbert
(Apologies if not fully accurate, I’d have to go find the interview again)
34 here, I absolutely hate being told thank you for my service and generally don’t reveal I was in the military if I can avoid it. I have no interest in being associated with the crowd of morons happy to send other people’s kids to war and then refuses to take care of them when they come back.
Every time I see someone with one of those fucking hats on (you know the ones) it makes me cringe so hard. Like those dudes who get there basic training company tattooed on their arm, or even worse, a combat patch tattoo hahaha. You now how many fucking boots got first cav tattoos after deployment? Lol. POGs everyone of them.
Can you tell me which hats. Sorry not sure which hat you mean…
The hats that say “Vietnam vet” or “first cav” or have an OIF ribbon on it or whatever
Why would Vietnam vet hat make you cringe? Those guys got spat on when they came home. If they want to wear a hat now why not?
After you left service maybe you put your time behind you, and that’s fine. But why would a Vietnam vet hat make you cringe?
There is no hate in my cringe but the cringe is real. There is an entire “boot” culture you aren’t aware of. Trust me on this one.
Eh, they can have a purpose. If you don’t want anyone to talk to you then you wear the dirty salt stained one. Or if you’re tired of people assuming your service dog is fake then put on a nice clean one. Instantly 100% less questions about “why do you have a dog?”
Shhhh. He is legend
Hell I’m 50 and I hate that shit. It’s the most pandering, “thought and prayers” bs since “thoughts and prayers”
So do plenty of us older ones. I worked in a hospital state side, I wasn’t G.I. Joe.
Tbh then you probably deserve it more than killers for joining an aggressive war
See? This is exactly what the article is talking about. Most people join up to do a job. They don’t get to decide if that job is done in Korea or Iraq. The politicians decide that.
Yep, I don’t like it one bit when said to me, and the one time I said it to a much younger vet I’d met I immediately felt uncomfortable having said it. (And I think he was uncomfortable too.)
I joined up because I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, enjoyed a brief flare of patriotism during and after bootcamp, learned some marketable skills, hated being in by the time I’d been in a year, and got back out as soon as I could to get paid for those skills as a civilian.
Yeah it sucked, and I guess I’m glad that folks appreciate that it sucked, but no one should thank me personally for it. It was my choice to join, and I did it primarily due to a lack of other good options.
I appreciate the veterans that have come after, but generally find the military worship at certain concerts and such to be a bit over the top.
Same here. I was an electrician that fixed lighthouses.
Medac fucking blows.
It’s always been weird, it’s a job, do you tell the Starbucks employee that serves our country and helps keep the American economy going “thank you for your service”? It would make sense if we didn’t have a volunteer military but we do so it’s the same as thanking anyone for the job they do if they see you in your work uniform
I only say it to bus drivers because they are the thin khaki line that stands between peace and total societal collapse
As a bus driver myself I couldn’t agree more, and thank you.
Even when it’s more than a job think about what you’re actually encapsulating in such a mundane phrase. People lost friends, limbs, even their sanity, and so much of society thinks hearing “Thank You” is all vets need.
Then the VA is falling apart, claims are a mental health problem themselves, and getting care in some of the hospitals is a battle itself. But it’s all okay because someone said thank you.
At a certain age group it also comes off a bit insulting in that they didn’t sign up during wartime. But they were sent to a war because of a massive amount of lies.
Do you already forget all of the “thank you for your service” things for first responders during COVID?
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I’ve been in veteran circles, including qualifying for USAA benefits due to the service of family. I think he’s pretty accurate. Combat vets want a compassionate person to listen to their traumatic experiences, because most people use it as a thoughtless phrase to say, like saying thanks for someone opening a door. Most people saying it don’t want to know about the horrors they’ve seen. I’ve seen it in all of my family members and several friends that served in combat, they just want to be heard. The VA does what it can, but they need more funding to provide good therapists to vets.
The other vets that don’t like it usually didn’t serve in a combat role and don’t feel like they deserve it.
I suppose I’d be interested in finding out what they did in the military but if they just want to buy some beer then I’m not gonna bother them.
Of course if they didn’t wander around wearing military fatigues it wouldn’t come up.
As a veteran, I can’t help but imagine that a lot of the people I see wearing military paraphernalia were never in the military. I’ll only believe that you were/are in the military if you’re in full uniform with everything in the right place/position as only someone that is/was in the military would know how to do.
Fun fact. If you’re not in a rural area where that’s the fashion, and they’re obviously not actually wearing it as a uniform, (complete set, patches on, etc) they’re likely homeless. Or at least poor enough to need clothing hand outs.
Seriously, talk about jumping to conclusions. Maybe younger vets know that the more recent wars have been a farce and aren’t excessively proud of doing it, not like they get a choice in the matter.
Or we could treat them like people and not revere a shitty job they had in their early 20s. Idk that’s what my veteran friends seem to prefer
And the fact most of our modern wars have been various versions of invasion.
I think that’s a big difference. These weren’t lads off fighting fascism in France and liberating concentration camps in Poland. Many of them were the tip of the spear of an illegal, immoral invasion that, retrospectively, has become toxic to have ever supported (unless you’re a Republican, then nobody cares).
Lucky for some current military folks in countries that still have functioning liberal democracies, you guys may have a chance to return the favor (that is, killing fascist scum) in the US within the next decade or so.
I’m not in the military but I’ve always felt this way the case. It’s so empty and meaningless.
It seems like it’s more for the people saying it. "I did something nice today to make me feel good about myself. I thanked a person for doing something they signed up for under their own free will. "
I was at a party given by my neighbor last year and I met his brother-in-law, an Army vet. I chatted with him for a while but I gradually got the impression he had taken an instant dislike to me so I moved on. The next day I was talking to my neighbor and asked him what was up, and he told me that his BIL was highly offended that I hadn’t said “thank you for your service”. I thought this was bullshit and so did my neighbor - apparently this guy had never left the country, never saw combat, and just worked in an office building doing IT stuff.
Assholes are everywhere.
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I always responded with, Thank you for paying your taxes.
And you know they probably paid those taxes cause a capitalist wouldn’t be caught dead thanking a veteran outside of making them money, sadly.
Military members would say that because of the type of people in the 2000s who would thank every military member, they also would claim taxes are theft. They are also the type that now support Trump and hate the military.
I feel uncomfortable knowing americans do this.
I feel uncomfortable when people thank me for my service and I wasn’t even in the military. I was a civilian working for the Air Force and it’s on my resume so I’m always thanked at interviews. It’s always so shallow, like a greeting.
“Hi! How’s your day? Thank you for your service!”
“No I didn’t fight. I was a civilian doing engineering work in support.”
Thank you for your service
Thank you for your service
service for your thank you.
No thank you I just had it serviced.
You’ve been served.
Thank you for servicing someone who’s just been served with your service
You’ve been serviced.
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So many people don’t understand how much of the Air Force is civilian engineers. They didn’t serve, they just understand there’s no better job they’re gonna get in Ohio with an engineering degree
Young? Literally every person I served with said it was weird over a decade ago.
Well yes young, as the article states that for veterans over 65, it was only 24% that felt uncomfortable.
I think something to consider is what veterans that old went through. They likely were drafted to serve in Vietnam against their will. That’s a much different situation than any soldier has been in since then. I think they very well should be thanked for what they were forced to do, especially since many of them received the exact opposite treatment back then right after the war. Many people treated those soldiers as war criminals just because they idealogically opposed the war. At the very least, they deserve respect and compassion. That war completely changed so many people’s lives for the worse, with a great many suicides as well.
Yeah for sure. The treatment of US soldiers returning from Vietnam is an embarrassing stain on our history.
Especially when the counter-culture lead the charge, spitting on them and calling them baby killers.
Most of those guys were still pretty much kids and didn’t want to be there in the first place.
I got thanked once because I was wearing a tshirt from an air force base gift shop.
Thank you for your purchase.
Oh, um, this is uncomfortable. It was actually gifted to me from my military friend 😅
Thank you for your friend’s purchase.
