Do you thank veterans for their service?

50 comments

  1. Not in the literal sense, but I tend to support politicians who want to expand the VA so I guess so.

    Edit: Totally forgot, not vets but a couple of my brothers are active duty and I thank them for their service anytime they pick up the check at dinner or hold open a door for me, but that’s in jest.

  2. Only to piss off my friends that served.

    Hold the door for me? A quick “thank you for your service” just to make sure they hate me deep down in their core.

  8. On Veterans Day, and Memorial Day, or if they are in uniform for some reason. Otherwise no.

  10. I find that actually talking to them and hearing their stories does more for their mood than thanking them.

  11. No.

    I asked my Marine buddy about this at work. He said its just awkward to hear and that he’d prefer that nobody says it to him.

  16. Sometimes. Depends on the situation and the veteran.

    I used to be all about it, but spending more time around military personal and veterans, I have come to realize not all of them are hero’s and there are a lot of them who barely make it through the day…. So I’ve stopped saying it to random people.

  17. I’m not into performative patriotism, so no. Most vets I know hate it anyway.

  18. Not really. I was an EMT for over a decade. It was an inside joke for us, because people also feel the need to say it to us. It’s like a nice gesture, that isn’t fun for anyone. We don’t like hearing it, even if we appreciate the sentiment. We mostly reserve it as a half sympathetic/half patronizing quip at each other. If someone is complaining about something you pat em on the back and go: “Thank you for your service”.

    My BIL recently confirmed this is also the case in the Army. He earned my respect when my SO’s coworker came and said it to him. And he said: “I appreciate that, but I’m not serving anyone.”

  20. No. I always saw it as a ” look at me, I’m thankful, isn’t that nice? Look how nice I am.” situation. My partner, who is former military, says that it makes him uncomfortable when people do that to him. My dad, also former military, says the same thing.

  21. No. I’m a veteran and I don’t like being thanked for my service. I use the hell out of every benefit I can get though.

  22. I’m a vet myself, and I don’t. I do say “Thank you for your cervix” after sex with my wife sometimes though.

    I have no idea how she puts up with me.

  23. Why , it’s a just a job they signed up for. Feels weird to “thank” people for picking a career

  24. No. I grew up in a military household. My dad mostly treated it like a job, which is what it was. Plenty of people do more to help Americans in their day-to-day lives without getting thanked. More importantly, they don’t go around telling people they should be thanked.

    The “thank me for my service” vets are some of the douchey people out there. None of the combat vets I know care about that stuff. It’s always the non-combat vets that want to be thanked. It has to be a inferiority complex, right?

    I have a friend that will change his profile pic to himself in uniform when veteran holidays come up (even Memorial Day). Then he’ll tell everybody that they should thank a veteran for their freedom. He drove trucks as a Marine Reservist who got medically discharged for a blood clot. Thanks, bud…

    I have another friend who was an IT guy in the military. I’d always thank him for his servers.

  25. As a veteran, to hear it on Veterans Day? Ok, that’s fine.
    Any other day of the year? Please no.
    Memorial Day? Oh hell no

  26. I’m active duty military, and while I recognize the good intention of the gesture and I’d never be mad at someone for it, it’s always a little weird and awkward, and a lot of my peers feel the same way.

    It’s less weird if it’s in the context of a conversation, but I don’t love it when I’m out and about in uniform for whatever reason and random strangers just say it out of nowhere. It’s like thank you, that’s very kind, but I literally just stopped at target on my way home to buy toilet paper, please let me do that in peace like everyone else.

    At least for me, what makes it uncomfortable is when it feels more like some kind of automatic ritual, almost a religious thing, rather than a genuine spontaneous sentiment, if that makes any sense.

    EDIT: and yes, we absolutely say it sarcastically to each other when we have to do something stupid or unpleasant lol

  28. As a vet, please don’t unless it is somehow related to the matter at hand, like my funeral.

    Seriously though don’t, it’s awkward as hell unless they are wearing vet attire, those guys eat it up.

    Where I live it would be meaningless, the lone veteran stall at Sonic sits empty while looking down the line of cars in the other stalls all you see is veteran/disabled veteran plates – kind of our fast food tribute to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

  29. No. I have several friends and family members who served, including a few who saw combat, and every single one of them has told me that they hate it when people say this to them.

  30. Not any more. I heard that it makes veterans feel uncomfortable, so I stopped.

  31. No. I was raised in a military family, so if I meet a veteran, the conversation, normally goes along the lines of you know, where did we live and when kind of a thing. Just talk about base experiences.

  33. There’s only two times I do it:

    * The person introduced themselves in a way that makes it clear they want to be thanked, I’ll do it out of kindness. This may be the only thing they have for identity and achievement in their life (from their perspective).
    * The person served in combat and just finished telling me a great story. I might thank them for the story and for their service. I would do this the first time with a new person, but not every time after that.

  35. No. I think it’s weird. First because for a lot of them their service was entirely peacetime stuff and I don’t think their job requires thanks. My friend’s dad never did jackshit in the marines.

    And the soldiers who have experienced combat might well prefer to forget it and not think of it as central to their identity. In which case it would be very hurtful. Especially if they were maimed or have PTSD.

  36. Yeah. I’m a veteran but always thank the old guys with the caps. Vietnam, Korean, and especially WW2 veterans. The latter two are becoming rarer and rarer. They lived and participated in a completely different world.

  37. Retired veteran here, I do not apart from messing with my old military buddies. I really don’t like it when people I don’t know say it to me. They have no idea what I did or didn’t do and there are tons of people in other job fields who deserve it far more than I do.

    I really can’t stand the “you’re welcome for my service” bro-vet sort of weirdo who did a 3 year contract in their early 20s and then made it their entire personality for the rest of their goddamned life. You gotta move on at some point, my guy, the sooner the better.

  38. No. Even if I felt any particular gratitude to them, none of my friends that served like it anyway.

    I thanked nurses a couple times during the pandemic though.

  40. No it’s cringe as fuck and they generally don’t like it, unless they are try hards.

  41. No. One shouldn’t expect praise for serving one’s country, otherwise you did it for selfish reasons.

  42. No, and it makes my skin crawl when others do it. It’s some kind of bizarre war fetish for those who’ve never been in the military.

  43. My dad is a vet and he hates everyone that does it so deeply that he will glare at you

  44. I’m a veteran, and it feels weird when people thank me. It’s like, “Umm…you’re welcome…? I kept the deck of the ship nice and clean for you!”

  45. No. Most veterans I know are really uncomfortable with it.

    However, I also have a brother in law who was in the National Guard in his 20’s and never saw deployment or combat outside of training. But he wears his Veteran hat and American Legion jacket and complains constantly that “nobody thanks veterans anymore like they used to!”

    He’s also one of those who cannot walk past someone wearing a military shirt or hat without approaching them, asking what branch they served in, when they served, how they served, and thanking them profusely before encouraging them to join the Legion and then going on a long tirade against people he perceives as not being supportive. Meanwhile, the person he’s talking to is cringing and being like “Well, it’s nice meeting you. I’m sure you have places to be so…” trying to end the conversation without making it weird. People shouldn’t have to put up with that. One of my friends used to really like wearing her Army shirt, but felt like she had to stop wearing it in public because of people like my brother in law.

  46. I’ve always heard from veterans that they hate when people do that because it seems performative so I don’t

  49. Well I feel like a complete @ss hat now. I was taught it was respectful and then I had a guy I graduated with cuss a group of us out when we didn’t tell him thank you or “respect his sacrifice”when he got back from Afghanistan in the early 2000s. I’ve maybe said it a handful of times – when I’ve seen someone in fatigues/uniform or an elderly gentleman with a vet hat on. I won’t do it again now though that I know the majority don’t like it!

  50. As a combat vet, please do not do this. It is incredibly uncomfortable and awkward. Like, how tf do you even respond without sounding like a jackass?

    “you’re welcome”

    “NO THANK YOU CITIZEN!”

    “it sucked the entire time and I hate you for bringing it up please go away”

    like srsly wtf do I say back? 🤣

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