Posted on 05/26/2014 8:05:05 AM PDT by US Navy Vet
...When someone says to you "Thank You for YOUR Service" and you know/think THEY were JUST TOO were JUST too DAMN GUTLESS and/or SPINELESS to Serve Themselves(especially "Men(boys)of Draft and/or Military Age)"?
No don’t consider not thanking the vets. Vets are not sensitive nor insulted by appreciation. They honor freedom of speech
I don’t go out of my way to thank anyone but I have quietly picked up the tab of a soldier as he ate his meal in peace and left it up to the waitress to inform him.
I talked to my great uncle yesterday. He was a chopper pilot in Vietnam and said that stories from home and groups of college kids who met him at the airport when he returned did far more psychological damage to him than anything that happened there.
He says that it was only within the last 10 years or so that he figured out that the anti war movement wasn’t nearly as large as the media made them out to be. Just like today, the crowds were college kids driven from behind by a small number of people.
I’m the same generation as you, Bryan. I served mostly through the Carter years, and it was a thankless time to serve in the military. I don’t begrudge today’s military for getting some recognition. I get thanked more now for my service than I ever did when I was in.
If you are that long-haired, Hippie, Commie-Lib, Vietnam War protestor who spit at me, called me a "Baby Killer" and then ran when I was passing through San Francisco while returning from Vietnam in 1972, you can take your "Thank You" and shove it where the sun don't shine.
Please don’t let this one veteran make you think all of us think that way. I certainly appreciate it every time someone thanks me for my service. I was drafted but ended up making the Air Force my career. I am proud to have served my country. Even as a retired veteran, I too have paid for many current active duty members when I see them in a restaurant or fast food establishment. I thank them for their current service and wish them well in their career. Thanks to both of you for your support of our military members, active and veterans.
Of all the things that could irritate me, that is No. 799 on my list.
I served and I also thank others for serving. Just be appreciative that you are not at SFO in the 70's and getting spit on.
What a stupid question. You know precisely nothing of other’s lives. Further, it is every American’s right to decide for himself how he will or won’t serve his country. In fact THAT is one of the very reasons that many soldiers DO choose to serve, to defend those very rights. Your “irk” should be spelled “jerk.”
Jeez I served in expeditionary campaigns but I say “Thank you for your service” to other vets all the time.
What irks me are fake patriots like John Kerry.
People who have gone on to profit from their despicable conduct and are now drawing fat paychecks on the backs of the veterans and other taxpayers they betrayed instead of sitting in prison cells where they belong.
I find that many who thank me, kinda wish they were able get in. I usually answer; “And I thank you, since you are paying for my retirement.” :)
Sometimes I buy them a beer or a meal.
They have been around the world and are coming home for a rest or for good.
The least I can do is thank them.
3 Tours overseas (2 Deployments, 1 Duty Station). As a Vet, no, it does not irk me. It means something more when it comes from a fellow vet though.
I do become irritated when people who have never served trash the military, veterans, or run their mouth in other ways.
The first thing that springs to mind when I think of anything I took with me from Lackland is a different view on our freedoms.
Roger that. The late 60’s early 70’s were not a good time for those of us in uniform. The only thing that mattered to the asshats was you were in uniform thus you were an evil baby killer to be vilified.
Good point, A point that I see blurred more each year.
Memorial day is to Honor the dead.
Just curious. What did you get banned for back in the day.
And no I don’t take affront to someone saying “thank you for your service”.
I like it when people thank me for my service, even if they do it in honor of Memorial Day (as most people would guess, I didn’t die serving my country, but I understand that it’s hard to notice what Memorial Day is about when it’s mostly picnics and car commercials).
I frequently thank others for their service and Saturday night discretely paid the restaurant tab for an E-4 who was proposing to his date - he was counting out too many ones for me to feel comfortable letting him pay. She said “yes” to him.
I don't like the direction the military is heading at the moment, but it is hardly the fault of the majority of the fine men and women currently serving in the military.
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