for their service? much?

I remember reading that some V.N. and WW2 vets are sick and tired of people thanking them and wanting to shake their hands, some even want people to stop paying for their car wash , their meal or partial grocery bills.

Did I read it here on this forum ? or was it on the news ?

I don't know, but I have, on occasion, thanked fellow vets for their service to our country. I've always received a "thanks" in return.

I thank vets all the time. I thank them for going and for coming home.

They wrote a blank check, payable up to and including their life. Most people would never even consider being anywhere near that generous with a friend, much less with a stranger.

Why would you not thank them?

Gunners Mate GMT2, 1976-1980

I do.

I won't go over the top or out of my way, but where and when it seems appropriate I will do so.

As a retiree i thank those on active duty.

When my son was in the army, and I'd visit him, those thanks were reciprocated by those on AD. Plus the senior guys liked hearing about how rough Desert Storm was while on a carrier.

Yep.

"Thank you for your service"

"Thank YOU for YOUR service"

...awkwardness

Why not?

The brotherhood is uncommonly respectful of our common experience, for the most part. While our experiences were all different, each went off into the unknown, accepted the experience, however unpleasant, or even dangerous, got up early, got haircuts, followed orders, and survived honorably.

For many years, I could tell, upon meeting a man, whether he was a veteran or not. Not so much any more, but I don't do much meeting anymore.

It's only been the last decade or so that "thank you for your service" began to be heard much.

I thank younger vets, and have been thanked many times by younger, and older vets. I have no problem with it.

The night before I flew out for VN, February 28, 1968, I was in Pasadena with a beauty I knew from school. We were in a restaurant that on any other day of the year I couldn't afford.

We were drinking a glass of wine before ordering, I was in my Alpha uniform with my National Service Medal proudly displayed when the waiter came to us and asked me if I was on my way to Viet Nam, that a gentleman had inquired. I responded affirmatively and the waiter said that the gentleman would like to buy our dinner with a recommendation from the top of the menu.

It was marvelous. The waiter wouldn't identify the gentleman, but as he and his lady left he put his hand on my shoulder and wished me safe return and left.
Stunning then, stunning now.

That is the only comp I have ever had for my service, such as it was, except for a haircut at Great Clips last year and I am fine with that. I don't wear a 'veteran hat', I don't have a cardboard sign on the freeway. there is no way for anyone to know what I did a half century ago and I'm fine with that too.
I routinely thank soldiers and Marines in uniform on the infrequent times I meet or run into them and have sprung for airport beers more than several times but I haven't developed the kind of comfort it would take to be a regular, 'thanker'.

That was also the last time I saw the girl too.

Sure do.

Grocery shopping the other day with my Retired Navy lid on a guy not much younger than me stopped and thanked me for my service. He then laughed saying he spent his time playing a clarinet for the USAF band.

I pay respects to others as well.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
When my son was in the army, and I'd visit him, those thanks were reciprocated by those on AD.

Indeed. That reminded me of this:

I'd stopped into a local Army recruiting center to see if I could sweet-talk them out of a t-shirt they gave away to new recruits. Told the soldier who greeted me "Hey, when I signed up back in 1971 I never got my t-shirt!" He laughed, asked me to wait a moment, came back with a t-shirt, a hand towel and two really great ceramic drinks coasters, and thanked me for my service. Several of the troops within earshot chimed-in, echoing his thanks.

It was really quite a humbling experience.

I have never been thanked for my service (1955-1966) all but about 11 months of it was overseas.

About the only vets I can recognize today are the SF guys that we have had in our house for dinner a few times. Do we thank them for their service? No, but we show it each and every time they are here. Hand shakes all around, fresh hot coffee often with fresh home made cake, etc.

If even remotely close to meal time, or if they have time enough to spend here, Mrs. Elk takes extreme delight in cooking meals for them.

I didn't wear the uniform to garner thanks. I did it because that was what I had decided to do as a 17 Y.O.

Oh, and we have driven up to Walter Reed on many occasions to visit wounded warriors, including CARE packages for the guys being treated.

I have and the one that sticks out the most is my daughter-in-law's uncle. He was shot down in Vietnam and spent time in the Hanoi Hilton with John McCain. When I thanked him he said I was the first one who had ever done that for him. That was about 10 years ago.

I only served thirty-three years all but ten days, full-time, no reserve time, so I can hardly be considered to have served this country...as a result, I've never once been thanked for my service, either by a veteran or a civilian.

I guess that here in yUK nobody gives a shit whether you served or not.

One of the older members of our village Thursday Club, now in his 90's, not only served his country, but went ashore in Normandy in 1944 with the Royal Norfolk Regiment, and got away from the ensuing battles intact.

I make a point of chatting with him whenever we meet up, and listening hard to what he has to say.

The short DVD of the action that took place inland from the beaches, in order to secure them from long-range artillery harrassing fire, are petrifying, to say the least. Taking German heavy gun emplacements, real concrete fortresses with many remote MG posts, cost many lives that day, most of them the Royal Norfolks.

tac

Tac, I am sure many of our brothers here would agree - Thank you

Canadian or American, we fight and fought on the same side. It can also be said (for both sides) that some of ours sacrificed so some of yours could come home.

As Veterans we are brothers.

quote:

Originally posted by tacfoley:
I only served thirty-three years all but ten days, full-time, no reserve time, so I can hardly be considered to have served this country...as a result, I've never once been thanked for my service, either by a veteran or a civilian.

Tac, from a US Marine who got to spend A few trainig exercises with the Royal Marines, thanks.

My first experience with the Royal Marines was in '96. They were out in 29 Palms for a CAX. We had a weekend off so we snuck back to the barracks. Drinking beer on the balcony we saw some guys running across our grinder. We yelled at them and they stopped to ask if they could take a shower. So they got to clean up and we asked if they wanted to go to Palm Springs. Sure! They said. Lol I am lucky I returned from that night....

Last time I dealt with the Royal Marines was about 2013 in AFG. Just as professional as I remembered from back in the day.

Semper Fi Tac.

Where I work, there's a Korean War veteran - he frequently gets thanked for his service from people of all ages - but the people who stop to talk to him the longest I overhear talking about how the military was for them, comparing stories, asking about families, etc.

Likewise, I have other friends and coworkers who have said before that they talk frequently to others who have sereved.

Having no experience with war, personally, I can see that it appears to be much more than just a "thanks" for the friends and coworkers I have who are veterans.

Thank YOU, Gentlemen. That means a lot to me.

tac

I do, every time I see one.

Sure.

I served 1981-1990, only conflict during that time was shooting down a couple Libyan planes who tried to start some shit, Grenada, and Panama (Noriega). I wasn’t involved even remotely in any of that and got out just before the Desert Shield build up. Usually when folks thank me I feel that compared to the warriors of the past 20 years, I really dont deserve it.

The recognition from other veterans really hit me one day last year. I have a Marine Corps sticker and US Flag/pledge decal on the back of my truck. I get a lot of compliments on it. People ask me about it and will frequently take pictures of it.

Here is a pic before I added the EGA with “USMC” underneath to the driver side similar size to my wife’s prayer decal on the passenger side...
IMG_3988 by Wayne Wilson, on Flickr



I was getting out of the truck one day at the grocery store as a young man with his wife and child were approaching from the passenger side, walking down the parking lot aisle. He was I guess to be in his 20s with longer, shaggier hair than I would wear or wish to see my sons wear and some facial scruff that was neither stubble nor beard/mustache. See it all the time on the younger generation and I have become used to it. The timing was such that I was getting out and still on the drivers side as he approached.

He commented on the decal, noticed the EGA and asked if I served, I replied I did 9 years and he thanked me for my service. It was an honest, heartfelt thanks, not the kind of casual, almost forced ones I sometimes see. Given his appearance, it actually kind of shocked me. He mentioned that he just got out of the Corps a year earlier, but was “only” in for 2 years.

While I didn’t entirely believe him at the time (again, his appearance) I thanked him for his thanks and thanked him for his service as well just as I came around the end of the truck and got my first full view of the man. This Marine was wearing shorts and had a high-tech prosthetic leg with an above the knee amputation. I immediately felt like absolute shit for mentally questioning him based on appearance.

Trying to maintain composure (acute allergy flare up I believe) I told him he gave far, far more in his 2 years than I did in my 9 and then I thanked him again as well as his wife and child for their sacrifice.

Shit, even typing this up the damn allergies are starting to flare...