Mixed. I like the fact that people are recognizing military service. But, like you, I did it for personal reasons and don't feel I, personally, need to be thanked for doing something I really enjoyed. It does make me a little uncomfortable at times and I often stumble about how to respond. I know you are supposed to say, "thank you for your recognition," but I often blubber out a "thank you," which sounds awkward at times. When people ask, or comment about me being in the Army, I guess I would prefer "oh, that's cool," to "thank you for your service."

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

Not a vet. Haven’t thanked any today and I won’t.

I don’t like to be told what to do and today is the day we are told to do this.

I say/do nice things for people who have served on my own terms.

BTW, Thank you, JSA, for your service...

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

Yeah, that makes it even weirder. I was in a public library today, and they had a nice little Veterans Day display thing going. There were Boy Scouts in there, and they were logging how many vets they could say “thank you” to like it was a contest to collect the most. Seriously...some little kid thanked me and then turned around to say “that’s 5!!”

I should note that I am in no way denigrating anyone who says “thanks” to me for my service, just trying to explain my feelings about it.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

I thanked JSA, not you.


















:)

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

They should go to a veterans cemetary and find the ones who were KIA and/or go to any VA hospital and visit the ones wounded and hurt during their military careers and thank them for their service, because they're the ones who truly served their country. My own service was small and insignificant compared to theirs and I don't feel like anyone should be thanking me for my time in the military.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Thank you for not thanking me.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

I avoid being identified as a vet as much as possible. No hats, no shirts, nothing on my car, etc. NY let's you put it on your license - nope. I have a picture of my last unit on my shelf at work, and most know what I did, but it's rarely discussed. I don't do the free meals, special offers, or discounts. I have a VA loan and Chase gives me a free checking account and a free safety deposit box and that's about as far as I go.

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"...the street finds its own uses for things"

Same here. No identifying anything, and I don't even keep my retiree ID card in my wallet.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

I’d say “you’re welcome” but it would just seem too forced.

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

Saying, "Thank you for your service" allows people to do something, but it's pretty effortless on their part.

I can do without it, but it's OK.

However, like you're saying, if someone would simply mow the lawn, rake the leaves, shovel the sidewalk, buy a beer at the bar, etc. for a veteran, that would be cool.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

I carry mine INCONUS, but it stays on the dresser when I leave the country. Robert Stethem gave his life, the least we can do is learn the lesson.

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"...the street finds its own uses for things"

This is an interesting thread. My dad is a veteran. But it’s never been a big deal other than funny stories and history lessons (he guarded Truman’s plane before they had Air Force one). Now he lives in an assisted living and they are so into anything to do with veterans. It feels really strange because they are always trying to make a really big deal out of it and he is just kind of uncomfortable about the whole thing. He says they asked for volunteers to go to the Indochina war and he was the only one who raised their hand. So they pulled him aside and said that was the attitude they were looking for and and sent him to DC to guard a plane.

These are the military veterans deserving of our thanks:

2006:

"U.S. Marines from 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment and Iraqi soldiers inspect the wreckage left from a suicide truck bomber against one of the Marines' forward operating bases along the Iraqi-Syrian border, July 13, 2006. All that remains of the incident is a burnt chassis. The car bomb was described by Lt. Col. Nicholas F. Marano, the battalion's commanding officer, as possibly the largest IED attack against Marines deployed near the border. One Marine, 24-year-old Lance Cpl. Lawrence F. Hiller of Austin, Texas, is credited to stopping the suicide bomber from breaching the Marines' outpost and causing further damage. Hiller's actions quite possibly saved lives, according to Marano. Had Lance Cpl. Hiller not been alert at his post, this incident could have easily become catastrophic, said Marano. Since the battalion arrived here four months ago, the Marines have encountered mostly IED attacks, they say. Firefights between insurgents and Marines in this area have become rare since a large-scale offensive operation was launched in November 2005 to hamper the terrorists' control of the area. Back then, a previous Marine unit fought face-to-face daily with enemy forces during the four-week operation, which resulted in an estimated 150 insurgents killed or captured." Photo by: Cpl. Antonio Rosas

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

I was over in that area back when that TWA flight was hijacked and Stethem lost his life. We all learned a hard lesson that week and it's stayed with me my whole life. One reason among several why my military ID stays home and why I don't have a DoD sticker on my car or one of those vanity plates on my car. My wife's also Guard and we don't want her standing out in a crowd, so to speak.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

I have to confess that I'm personally uncomfortable and slightly embarrassed when someone says to me "Thank you for your service." I'm not ashamed of my time in the military, believe me (as anyone here will tell you ;-). I just think that there are many, many more military veterans deserving of that lawn care, or beer-in-a-bar or handshake that Mr. Tostig explicated than I am.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

That’s exactly how i feel. I’m proud of my military service, but feel that what I did pales in comparison to what so many others did....for example, anyone who was on the ground in Iraq or Afghanistan had a shitload more on the line than I feel i ever did. Not to even mention what any WWII vet went through.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

I think this part of the premise of the movie The Messenger, where the death-notification officers are constantly told "Thank you for your service" while travelling through airports, etc, and they feel guilty because they don't feel the phrase is justified on their riskless (but still hard) job.

I haven't seen the movie, though.

I was a casualty assistance calls officer (CACO). At that time, "thank you for your service" was almost never said to any military service member or veteran that I remember. I can see where the guilt would come from. You see a little of that explored in the movie "Taking Chance," with Kevin Bacon. I can't recommend that movie enough for those who wonder what military escorts experience as they take deceased military members home to their families.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LPquarz16wQ

I think you were accused of thank you appropriation

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Last sunday i took my kids to the US military cemetary in dragunian (sp?) france

My 2 year old liked the grass but i can start to explain to my 4 year old about europes history

Their great grandmother lost siblinga at arnhem.

I have not served but it always strikes me as just a little obsequious when someone says it because whilst i am sure many mean it, it really can sound trite and it is easy to say.

I also think its slightly weird that you would make a point of thanking someone who was not conscripted for doing something they volunteered for.

I dont thank every doctor or nurse i meet for having chosen to spend all that time studying to help us. Or policemen and firemen.

I was thinking when i took my kids (and we will take them to normandy on the way back to thr UK in the new year) that their generation will almost certainly have no lasting memories of people involved in freeing europe or its history, and even Gulf 1 and 2 and Afghanistan will be (before their time) but the cemetaries, memorials and remembrence sunday are reminders that they need to be aware of from a young age that many people made huge sacrifices for them.

I guess that's part of the problem. Is really open to interpretation and having spent a long time around people who publicly do one thing and privately another I suspect I am slightly jaded to pious public pronouncements

That said I take your point

My husband feels like most of you - mixed feelings, appreciated, but others have given so much more.

That said, when he was deployed a few years ago, I ran into a neighbor while I was juggling our then 9-month old son and a bag of groceries, along with work I had brought home. The neighbor asked how my husband was doing, then told me to “thank him for his service.” All I could think at that moment was, “What about my fucking service?!?!” So ... if you’re going to thank veterans for their service, please don’t forget the families who also sacrificed!

As someone who says, “Thanks for your service”, it feels like the opportunity to, while “thanking” an individual, honor the system and our country. I buy lunch for cops/firemen when I can and, because I travel a bit and get upgraded, I’ll swap my seat with an in-uniform serviceman if one is around and it’s not odd. I’m not trying to prove anything or create an awkward situation - just trying to say “thanks”.

We used to have a saying in the Navy and Marine Corps: "Navy (or Marine Corps) Wife: The Toughest in the Navy (or Marine Corps)." Today, we'd substitute "spouse" for wife, of course.

I don't know how military spouses -- especially when dependent children are involved -- do it. Double that when talking about service in a military branch where there are lots of extended deployments or the operational tempo is high. They keep everything together and help the military fight the war from the home front. Without their service on a 24/7 basis, the military would fail, pure and simple.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

This past Thursday I gave a presentation at a local elementary school for Veterans Day. They wanted me to talk about my experiences and what Veterans Day means to me. I spent about a week working on the presentation, it was tough finding pictures that didn't overly glorify guns, show smoking, or drinking. Along the way,I realized I never really say anything except an awkward "thank you back". I never felt I deserved to be thanked, as there are men and women who sacrificed FAR more than I did. They deserve the thanks, not me. However, those who truly show appreciation, not just saying "thanks" through compulsion, I want to say, "you're welcome". So that's how I wrapped up my presentation, saying "You are Welcome" to 700 elementary school kids and their families. It was weird, but felt appropriate finally.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

I too feel like others have sacrificed more than I while serving, but the person making the offer is trying, and it is that effort that counts. Having someone saying "thanks for your service" beats the heck out what my dad experienced coming home from Vietnam. I see this as an indication our nation has grown up from its adolescent '60s days, when spitting on returning soldiers was seen as acceptable and patriotic. I don't care if you are a cook, an MP, or a grunt, at that point in your life you wrote a blank check to Uncle Sam. That takes courage and sacrifice, and if saying thanks makes those who did not feel better, I'm cool with that.

All of this partly explains why Europeans (including the UK) since the end of WWII, as a whole, tend to not be so gung-ho about war as we Americans sometimes appear to be: they've fought endless, bloody war for centuries right in their backyards and on their streets, all throughout the continent. So when we as the US ask them to fight alongside us I think a lot of us need to stop and remember how much they've already given in the past and how an entire generation of men were pretty much wiped out in WWI (especially in the UK) and then the wholesale slaughter in Europe in WWII.

I've been to several battlegrounds in Europe and have tallied up the horrendous bloodshed. I remember, as well, seeing countless WWI and WWII memorials to those killed in war. Italy, France, Germany, Great Britain. It didn't matter. So many millions of lives lost.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

I fucking hate it. I really hate it when you go to an event of some sort - especially around Memorial Day or Veteran's Day - and they want you to stand up so people can clap or whatever. Forced fucking embarrassment. I don't even stand most of the time. Some people seem to really swell with pride, but I just fill up with anger. Hearing Taps is an emotional roller coaster.

It took me almost 20 years to get comfortable to open up a little bit about what I did in the Marine Corps. I got a little comfortable for a year or so, thinking talking about it might help the pain, but it didn't. It really just pisses me off. I take no pride in what I did during my time and a shitload of alcohol was the only way to get through it. I did what I was told to do and it fucked me up mentally and physically. I can't remember most of it, and can't even keep the timeline straight. I'm not one to dwell on the past, and would rather not relive it.

Sorry to rant.

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Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador

This Marine deserves our thanks (go Recon!):



These troops deserve our thanks:





These troops deserve our eternal gratitude:

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Not a vet but, for me, it would seem like wishing Merry Christmas to someone Jewish. They can either lose their shit or recognize I am just trying to be nice, say Merry Christmas back to me, and move on.

Yep. We were fortunate. My husband (Coastie) did a year in Bahrain, so not in harm’s way. He was making good money, I was making good money, and I could afford babysitters whenever I needed. My mother was able to come up from Georgia almost every month to help. I had a very understanding boss, flexible schedule, and all that. And with all of those advantages, it was still incredibly hard. I can’t imagine how the spouse of, say, an E-6 with 3 kids and far from family does it. Especially the ones who do it over and over and over again.

Tell that to my grandmas and wife's as well along with great aunts (well they're dead except one but same idea). Husband is hanging out in the arctic, Pacific hellhole, or doing a walking riding tour of France and Germany or a coastal and mountain tour of Italy for two to five years with the only communication being a letter. Throw in the fact some of the "housewives" had to go work in a factory, not to make ends meet, but because of a labor shortage and you start to be impressed. My grandma also made the best apple pie, but that's a different thread.

Agreed. I would much rather talk about tanks being cool than awkwardly saying thanks for thinking me. Like spot my reasons were far from altruistic. I appreciate people appreciating service but not necessarily in my direction.

On a related note Mrs Skipjack laid a verbal smack down on some lady at the post office yesterday. They both arrived at the same time to find its closed. Mrs S said "oh shit of coarse they are closed" and had to explain it to the other lady. Other lady said "well they will close for anything I guess" and Mrs S shared her opinion of that statement (in front of Skipjack Jr).

That's the type of appreciation that I appreciate.

Awesome. Just because most vets don't think that a personal "thank you" sent their way is really all that needed doesn't mean we should also be laying down and letting flat-out disrespect slide by either.

"Things got a little out of hand. It's just this war and that lying son of a bitch Johnson..." ;-)

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

And what did the Hillary supporter say in response?

God dam man...

To answer the question- she said something to the effect of sorry and she was celebrating Monday.

I love how little sense that makes..tells me Mrs S delivered an effective verbal smack down.

FWIW, I didn't have kids for their sake, but it would be nice if they showed some fucking gratitude every now and then. ;)

Same concept applies, I think. Regardless of your motivations for serving, we owe you all a debt that won't be repaid. The least we can do is tell you we appreciate it.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

Yes, like I said before, I am in no way putting down those who are saying "thank you" to me, or casting aspersions upon their motive for doing so. I'm just trying to explain why for me, personally, it is a bit of an uncomfortable/awkward situation.

Edited to add....I don't definitely don't lose my shit in those situations; I try to be as nice as possible with a smile and either "thanks" or "you're welcome." I recognize folks are trying to be nice.

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___________________________________________________
Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

agreed

It's a choice i made and it's what i do/am but i didn't do it for thanks/appreciation. So these situations are a little awkward for me--not being the most social animal--but i recognize the good intent of those proffering the thanks so try to respond in kind with a nod and simple 'you're welcome'.

I have gone out of my way to thank folks that served in Vietnam however as (drafted or not) it was a pretty hard gig to undergo and return to a mostly hostile country. Also one of the reasons i volunteered to go to Vietnam to take part in the POW/MIA mission for a year living in Hanoi and working all over that country.

take good care

/r

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Steve

^^^This.

I was in during peacetime and never mobilized/deployed etc. I don't regret my time or the fact that I was in the service but do feel a little funny/unworthy when I've had it said to me. Many more who did truly heroic things as well as those who made the ultimate sacrifice who are genuinely deserving.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

^^This

If you want to thank someone thank my wife and daughter. They have no idea what we are doing, where we are at, no idea of what danger awaits us. I trained my entire career to do what I did, I trained to go to war, they didn't.

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All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi

Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic

I hate this, just like I hate the national anthem at sporting events, cheesy "Grunt Style" t shirts, and all the tacticool bullshit that people wear and sell.

this is exactly why the saying has turned sour. Half the people don't mean it. What they mean is, "I voted for Trump." So, effectively, the soldier is being disrespected.

I agree with this with one caveat. Keep it at Championship events and or like this weekend for Veterans Day and such.

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"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "

Like a couple others here, it's kind of awkward for me to be thanked for military service. My immediate thought is re. the folks that went thru horrific shit, or didn't come thru at all. And especially for the kids, wives, and parents of those that died.

I was in a for a long time. Marines and then Army, '82-'05. There were some days that were pretty challenging, but folks only actually shot at me for 3days. And they were really terrible shots. The delta between what I went thru and what others went thru is huge. So when I get thanked for my service, it kinda makes me feel like I'm being given credit for what others did. Feels......dishonest.

So on the one hand someone saying thanks is a nice gesture. But on the other hand, I'd rather just be background in the crowd and let some other guy, or lady, be thanked.

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Books @ Amazon
"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart

My view on this has changed a lot in the 20+ years since I’ve been out of the Navy. Like most of you, I don’t feel like I did anything noteworthy or heroic and clearly lots of people deserve the credit a whole lot more. However, when someone thanks me for my service I always give them a genuine “thank you”. I think it’s a nice gesture.

Unbelievably timely thread.
Ex Australian Army here, out for 30 years.
On Sunday morning, I'm driving my Uber Mobile and a couple of great US dudes are in the car heading to the airport. Somehow the subject came up and I mentioned that I'm an ex-serviceman and the first thing they did was in unison say " thank you for your service"
well knock me over with a feather.. this is something that we in Australia absolutely don't do... all volunteer service here, no thanks required.
anyway, we had a chat about this sort of stuff, and a lot of other "wow, only in America topics " and as two DC Police senior ranks, let's just say we ( well I did anyway ) had a great trip to the airport. ( no tip though, and that's something else we don't do here. Tip that is)

These days I'm not out and about in uniform that much, so I don't get the "Thanks for your service..." that often. However, it's never bothered me at all, unless it's just openly and unabashedly fake and given with the obvious intent to show a kind of false or show-off patriotism.

People serve in the military for all sorts of personal reasons, but the bottom line is that these are jobs that most Americans don't want to come anywhere near. Even if you never find yourself under fire or in a particularly dangerous job, military personnel (by and large) have to move their families a lot, have to function within a fairly strict style of personal and work environment, don't get paid a ton of money (especially in the junior ranks), and put up with a lot of inconveniences that don't necessarily accompany normal civilian life. And whether you sign up out of love of country, or because you want an education or job skills, or because you don't have any better idea of what to do with your life, you are still serving the country and the citizens. You don't "work" in the military. You "serve."

There are a lot of ways that the country tries to show gratitude to service members, like education benefits, VA benefits, etc. But those all come from the faceless nameless bureaucracy of the Federal government. It's different to have a citizen thank you, and recognize that you don't have to be serving and that you probably gave some things up in choosing to serve.

I usually just say "you're welcome" or "thank you" in return.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)