“Thank you for your service.”

Chdamn

Chdamn

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There may have been a thread about this. And my memory is so screwed up I might have participated. But here are my thoughts on this being said to me.

The very first time it was said to me I was surprised and then uncomfortable. Why is this stranger thanking me for something that I did with no thought of it being a service. I did it because I wanted to.

Over the years it has become a kneejerk reaction like Pavlov’s dogs salivary gland. People hear you telling a story about when you were in and they have to interrupt you to say it. “So anyways. I was a private and this Sgt has a chicken on his…” “thank you for your service”.

Ok. Uhhhhm sooo no to the story then?

I don’t think I’ve ever heard the line and thought wow, this person really appreciates what I did in the corps. Not that I want them to appreciate it mind you. It’s just white noise. Thought diarrhea if you will.

Why am I making this post. I stopped at Lowe’s today and used the military discount. Something that I really do appreciate.

I happened to be looking at the screen as she put in my number. A pop up had this in it.

Say out loud to the customer. “Thank you for your service”.

And that really sums it up for me. She read it, turned to me and repeated it. I just nodded, took my receipt and left.

Am I the only one that feels this way?
 
Like my Father and his fathers before him, I am proud to have served My Country.

I give thanks to people who thank me for my service as these people who show respect for our country.

When my life is over my casket will be covered with Our Flag.

I will go to my rest in shall always remember Our Flag and Our Country.
 
papa_smurf said:
i didnt serve, but i have always wondered what those that did think of this subject. it seems so hollow.

note: i have the utmost respect for those that did serve, and thank them for signing up for simething that i didn't.
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For me, the words thank you, should have sincere meaning.

There have been a couple of times someone has said “I want to thank you as a marine. The marines saved my father in Okinawa”. Or “my son was a marine and died at Kason.”

Those are sincere. And as good as thanking a fireman because you’ll never forget how firemen pulled you out of a burning building.

But this line has gotten as meaningless as a hooker saying “oh yeah, right there”.
 
I didn't go into the military.

So, I have an outsider's perspective on this.

I would not ever say those five words to anyone who was in the military. I think the phrase is, at best, patronizing.

On the other end of the spectrum, they seem almost mocking.
A 'woke' phrase created by antiwar activists from the 1960s reaching the end of their divisive lives, who spat on servicemen returning from southeast Asia.
Are they trying to atone for their actions now?

Instead of a trite, forced, or possibly patronizing phrase, I have instead many times extended an actual and sincere message of appreciation to service members.
As I said, I never served. Which make me appreciate ever more the sacrifices of those who decided to do so.

I'm sitting here, comfortable and safe, in part because someone else wasn't, or isn't. I will never forget that.
 
I have always had similar feelings towards that saying. It almost always just feels like filler or an obligation on their part. I find older generations seem to actually mean thank you for your service but a lot of them also served.

It is kind of the same as discounts, I will utilize them but I feel weird asking , if it isn't stated or offered, and I am never upset if they don't.

I serve for a few things but the discounts and hearing "thank you for your service" definitely are not any of them.
 
Inglis said:
Like my Father and his fathers before him, I am proud to have served My Country.

I give thanks to people who thank me for my service as these people who show respect for our country.

When my life is over my casket will be covered with Our Flag.

I will go to my rest in shall always remember Our Flag and Our Country.
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I get it. And if I felt like it was sincere I would feel the same way.

But all the people that slapped flags on their cars after 9-11 weren’t patriots either.

Thanks because it’s socially acceptable is as bad as patriotism only when it’s kosher.
 
If I see a marine or a group of marines in uniform at a bar I catch the bartender and pay for a round and ask to remain anonymous.

For me that’s paying it forward. I know what it’s like to wonder where you’ll find enough money for your next beer. Lol.

Only once did they find out it was me and came over to thank me. I said boys I was a Sgt once. If you want to thank me, when you get out and have a few extra dollars, buy a round for guys who are still in.

I’ve been out for 27 years. Thank the guys who are still in the suck. No matter which branch.
 
NCLivingBrit said:
I'm a mall cop at a bank in the ghetto and for some reason I get this at least 2 or 3 times a day.

People are weird.
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You should leer and say “Come with me and I’ll service you.”
 
First, I didn’t serve. Tried to join the USMC at 17. Dad wouldn’t sign, and he was probably smart. It made me mad at the time, but I was trying to join for mostly the wrong reasons, and I think he was wise to it.

That said, I say that phrase if I am engaged in direct convo to the old vets who wear hats saying when and where they served in times of conflict. Or in conversation if I know they saw combat.

But it doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the rest. I just don’t say it to them.
 
As I’ve been replying it reminded me of a story I put to words awhile back.

This is what true and sincere thanks looks like. To this day I’ll never forget her.

Twenty Dollars

It was a cold night, made even more miserable by the constant, light rain that felt as if it was at least ten degrees colder than the air. “Beautiful Monterrey California” was anything but that if you lived there for more than a month. Where the temperature was, almost always, between fifty...
carolinafirearmsforum.com carolinafirearmsforum.com
 
I am so happy to hear an actual vet say this out loud.

I respect and appreciate every single American who gave a part of their life to the service of our country. From snake eater to janitor. Individuals signed up to do as they were told for a contracted amount of time "to serve their role for the greater good". I appreciate and respect that decision.

But all the same. Every damned vet who says they served was "alpha, bravo killshit". So the general public just defaults to "thanks for your service".

The poor bastards who were on the front lines doing real scary stuff, want to forget about what they did, while the guy who got demoted from being a janitor demands his "sacrifice" for God and country be appreciated.... I have a bil like this....
 
I "served" in that I enlisted, went to basic and AIT, did my one weekend a month and two weeks a year while I went to college. Then I went active duty for a while and got to travel Europe.

I got to experience things that I would have never had the opportunity to do otherwise.

Thank me? No. It was a job. Yeah, I "worked" 12 hours a day, 6 days a week for a couple of years. But, my life wasn't on the line. No one was trying to kill me. No one was shooting at me.

I didn't feel it was special. Several of the kids I went to school with enlisted. Like my father, and his father, and his... and so on. Going back to the revolutionary war. It's just what we did. My 4 brothers also.

None of my kids enlisted. And I'm ok with that. My nephew graduates from Warrant Officer school in a few weeks. He could have retired this year.

I can't stand platitudes. The majority of the time they're just empty words without feeling or meaning.

You want to thank someone, thank those families who's sons, daughters, mothers and fathers didn't make it back. Thank those who didn't come back whole.
 
Diablos said:
I laughed to myself the other day, some place i was at asked the guy ahead of me if he served and gave him a discount.

Guess my look doesn't fit the mold so i didn't get asked (i dont ask for them anyway and avoid golden corral day),
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I’ve never asked for one. But I’ll take one if offered.

I always forgot but Home Depot and Lowe’s have made it part of your customer account now.
 
Trevillian said:
I am so happy to hear an actual vet say this out loud.

I respect and appreciate every single American who gave a part of their life to the service of our country. From snake eater to janitor. Individuals signed up to do as they were told for a contracted amount of time "to serve their role for the greater good". I appreciate and respect that decision.

But all the same. Every damned vet who says they served was "alpha, bravo killshit". So the general public just defaults to "thanks for your service".

The poor bastards who were on the front lines doing real scary stuff, want to forget about what they did, while the guy who got demoted from being a janitor demands his "sacrifice" for God and country be appreciated.... I have a bil like this....
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They wanted nothing to do with the military but are first in line for the bennies
 
Chdamn said:
I’ve never asked for one. But I’ll take one if offered.

I always forgot but Home Depot and Lowe’s have made it part of your customer account now.
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I use the lowes one too, but that encounter just struck me as funny. I just dont look veteran enough i guess (and im fine with that)
 
Real talk I appreciate the hell out of this country's veterans. I moved here from South Korea when I was 7 years old in 2006 and I'm blessed to be able to call the US my home. If it weren't for the sacrifices of brave US service members during the Korean War, my family and I would probably be living in a communist hellscape right now. I'm grateful to have the civil rights and the freedom I enjoy today. It doesn't matter what you signed up for or what you did, if you served, you're a hero in my eyes.
 
Diablos said:
I use the lowes one too, but that encounter just struck me as funny. I just dont look veteran enough i guess (and im fine with that)
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Same here. No one would look at me and think I was a "veteran". Lowe's discount is decent. Although they stopped giving it on many items.

Home Depot limits it to a maximum amount per year
 
Diablos said:
I use the lowes one too, but that encounter just struck me as funny. I just dont look veteran enough i guess (and im fine with that)
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We’ve never met. But I’m picturing my buddy d-day.

As soon as he EAS’d he stopped cutting his hair and shaving.

Then he put about 27 piercing in his ears, lips, and eyebrows.

I still laugh when I remember a waitress finding an earring on the floor and asking if it was his.

He touched his ears and face and then grabbed his crotch, nodded and said yep.

The look of ew on that poor girls face. Lmao.
 
halorocks22 said:
Real talk I appreciate the hell out of this country's veterans. I moved here from South Korea when I was 7 years old in 2006 and I'm blessed to be able to call the US my home. If it weren't for the sacrifices of brave US service members during the Korean War, my family and I would probably be living in a communist hellscape right now. I'm grateful to have the civil rights and the freedom I enjoy today. It doesn't matter what you signed up for or what you did, if you served, you're a hero in my eyes.
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Worked with the ROK Marines a few times. Tough bastards. A lot of respect for those guys.
 
Trevillian said:
They piss me off....

I did not choose to serve but it is a family thing.

One brother is an EMT. In this small community I knew/know all of his bosses. He's wayyy more competent than I would have ever expected he could be at a young age 😂 when I was getting pissy that he destroyed everything he touched.

One got into the AF academy, QUIT🙃 but then joined the chair force again and now just became a reservist officer. I can't give him hell about "quitting" the academy as life has worked out very well for him.

Then I look around at the world I live in and listen to people whose whole lives revolve around that single contract they signed (I respect that very thing) for 2-4 years and here 40 years later that is all they are....
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No one thing should define a person.

You aren’t just a football player or a gay flutist or a retired marine or an AF Academy drop out.

If that’s the only thing you are that’s sad and we can’t be friends.

And your post made me realize that’s what I really find offensive about the Pavlovian thank you’s.

It’s like they’re making my entire life just those 5 years of my life.
 
halorocks22 said:
Real talk I appreciate the hell out of this country's veterans. I moved here from South Korea when I was 7 years old in 2006 and I'm blessed to be able to call the US my home. If it weren't for the sacrifices of brave US service members during the Korean War, my family and I would probably be living in a communist hellscape right now. I'm grateful to have the civil rights and the freedom I enjoy today. It doesn't matter what you signed up for or what you did, if you served, you're a hero in my eyes.
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Bingo.

I never understood my father's time in until a Vietnamese man and his daughter explained it to me after thanking him for his service.

I don't go out of my way to thank veterans for their service, because I'm generally not comfortable with that level of sentiment with anybody outside of my close friends. I've worked with a few who thought enough of me to share some of the details of their time, real stories from the heart, and I do relate to them that story of the Vietnamese man, and how I appreciate their sacrifice, even if I don't 100% empathize.

That said, quite a few of my old high school dipshit crowd went into the military to avoid jail or as some halfassed attempt to stay out of the trouble they always put themselves in. Every one of them came out the same useless dipshit as when they signed up, and it would be a cold day in hell before I thanked them for anything.
 
Thank you for your service is about as worthless as I’m sorry I gave you VD.

A true thank you for veterans would be to lobby for better care at the VA.

Words are easy. Actions are hard.

Words are resigned. Actions define.

Hey why don't I just go out and eat some hay. I can lay by the bay, make things out of clay, I just may ...
 
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I obviously didn’t serve, but I think I have at least an opinion. The answer to me is “it depends”. A check out lady reading a prompt on the screen means absolutely nothing. Word diarrhea as you said.

But to many, we really do appreciate what y’all did. Most vets we meet these days their service was completely voluntary…which to me makes it even more valuable. Whether a soldier spent 2 years in a spank bank telling dirty jokes to his fellows, or he ran into machine gun fire he signed the bottom line saying he was up for whatever the green machine or whatever branch wanted him to do.

Dudes like me didn’t. Some of us did our best to be the kind of people worth going off and fighting for. But when it’s all said and done, y’all served, and some of us really appreciate it.
 
325rto said:
When i hear 'thank you for your service' my typical reply is : 'thank you for funding my drunken tour of Europe".
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Exactly.

I learned German so I could pretend to be German when I went to Thailand on “business”.
 
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B00ger said:
I obviously didn’t serve, but I think I have at least an opinion. The answer to me is “it depends”. A check out lady reading a prompt on the screen means absolutely nothing. Word diarrhea as you said.

But to many, we really do appreciate what y’all did. Most vets we meet these days their service was completely voluntary…which to me makes it even more valuable. Whether a soldier spent 2 years in a spank bank telling dirty jokes to his fellows, or he ran into machine gun fire he signed the bottom line saying he was up for whatever the green machine or whatever branch wanted him to do.

Dudes like me didn’t. Some of us did our best to be the kind of people worth going off and fighting for. But when it’s all said and done, y’all served, and some of us really appreciate it.
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See, you would come across as sincere.

You’ve never thanked me (don’t take that as a challenge) that I can recall.

You did, however, describe me as someone who could discuss international politics or the merits of midget porn, with equal fervor, despite the audience.

And that was far better.
 
Chdamn said:
See, you would come across as sincere.

You’ve never thanked me (don’t take that as a challenge) that I can recall.

You did, however, describe me as someone who could discuss international politics or the merits of midget porn, with equal fervor, despite the audience.

And that was far better.
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Exactly.

In truth, I rarely say “thank you for your service.” I prefer to cut to the chase and ask questions like “how many people did you kill?” Because I know vets really like that one. And then I spend about ten minutes validating myself with “I almost joined” stories. Those rock.
 
B00ger said:
Exactly.

In truth, I rarely say “thank you for your service.” I prefer to cut to the chase and ask questions like “how many people did you kill?” Because I know vets really like that one. And then I spend about ten minutes validating myself with “I almost joined” stories. Those rock.
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Don’t make me poop in your washing machine.
 
I’ve said it a few times. Mostly to elderly guys with Korea or WW2 hats on (although the latter are becoming rarer all the time). My whole fam damily served except me. Dad, Mom, Brothers, cousins, uncles…..
My nephew served on the USS Abraham Lincoln and died in a car wreck headed beck to the ship after weekend liberty, and a cousin that was a KIA in Viet Nam. That’s the only active duty deaths in our family

My dad told me “if you want to show your appreciation to vets, you go to any cemetery and find neglected stones and clean them, or go to the VA and ask the staff who never gets visitors, and visit them.”

I don’t do either of these things as often as I should…..

I’ve paid restaurant bills for soldiers countless times…. Anonymously. For firefighters, cops, and EMT’s too.

There’s 1001 ways to show appreciation without saying a word.
 
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@Chdamn, you are not alone brother. Just occasionally you run into someone whose life you actually made a difference in. I was scheduled to have a camera stuffed up my ass and it turns out the guy who was doing it was lifted off the embassy in Saigon by me and a bunch of drunk friends in 1975. He was 12 years old at the time. He was quite hysterical.
 
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