Thank You For Your Service!

First, thank you for your service.

Second, although I have the appropriate haircut, I did not serve our great country in that way, so I am especially grateful to all who have, and I will go up to men and women who are in uniform and than them. It doesn't matter to me whether they pushed pencils, flew B 52s (just met the son of one of them yesterday) or pealed potatoes in a mess hall, I have a great respect for all servicemen.

BTW, I don't interrupt someone's dinner or an intimate conversation to thank a serviceman. I just do it if the situation seems right to make such a comment.

Lastly, my question to those who have served is, would you prefer people didn't thank you for your service? Is it annoying or embarrassing, or do you accept and appreciate the thanks?

 

I hate the whole thank you for your service. For one, I know that most of us that served were just kids running away from home or guys with no other options. I too never served in combat or anything exciting for that matter. I can't stand that [Edited: Crude Language] stuff.

 

[Edited: Crude Language] I can’t speak for anyone else, but when I thank someone for serving in the US military, it is done in gratitude and with respect for the military in general, knowing that many people end up in the military just as you’ve said, but that does not negate my gratitude or respect for the uniform.

 

Thanks for your reply.

I'm sorry to hear about the experience you had when returning from combat. Marxism didn't die off after Vietnam, but it has fully infected, not just universities, but all of "public education", trade unions, and our government.

 

You didn't serve so it's hard for you to understand the guilt (as many on here have expressed) in being lumped in with real hero's like the ones who stormed the beaches on D-Day or cleared the Islands, or humped it through the jungles of nam. I, and many other who didn't serve in combat wish people would stop it with the thank you for your service stuff. It's like a robotic programed response.

 

Basically I agree.

However ladies/gentlemen who saw no combat - we were one order away from it.

That was made perfectly clear to me - yes even in the USAF.
At the Bay of Pigs Crisis we were warned of the great likelihood of having to get combat ready.
Fortunately the invasion did not happen for our squadron.

At my PDS Griffiss AFB I worked in a computer sector that supplied intel to/from the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BEMWS) and was a target no doubt high on the Russian hit list. Plus we had an impressive SAC/TAC presence they would want to nuke if war had broken out.

For almost all of you no matter where you served you were a target on a hit list.
No not in the trenches with bullets zinging by or incoming mortar but a target nonetheless.

Plus you took the oath to lay down your life for your country.

So, just say "you're welcome", when they thank you.

HankD

 

Thanks for taking the time to explain. I understand your point, and see how it can be uncomfortable for you and others like you; however hank and Cassidy make an excellent point. You were always in a position of uncertainty, and could have, without notice, been placed in a situation of danger and/or separated from home and family.

I'll have to rethink how I handle this in future so as to not embarrass people who don't think themselves worthy of that kind of thanks.

 

I think that's good advice.

 

I used to hate it when someone thanks me for my service. I mean, it made me uncomfortable in ways that are very hard to articulate. HATED it.

Still don't particularly care for it. But if I don't get angry when someone insults me--and I usually don't--why on earth would I get angry because of "Thank you for your service"?

I've deployed a lot, I've seen a tiny bit of combat, such as it was, drove all over Iraq, walked all over Afghanistan, and not once was I coerced into any of it. I volunteered. I volunteered a lot. I earned a comfortable living for my family as well.

I had to reframe the situation in my head to make it palatable. When someone thanks me for my service, they think they're thanking me for seven deployments, early mornings, a lot of running, falling out of airplanes and such.

No.

What they're actually thanking me for is because after doing all that, there are evaluations to be written, and barracks to be cleaned, and a world of other stuff like ceremonies and such that have to be planned, resourced and executed, and I REALLY disliked all of that stuff.

So now, when someone thanks me, I just think about all the stuff I HATED doing, and I am able to smile and say: "You're most welcome. Thank you for the opportunity to have served."

 

Good attitude!

Those who are uncomfortable accepting thanks simply need to understand where it's coming from.

Not knowing anything about the servicemen we are thanking, we "civilians" are making a very general statement of appreciation, not a specific one. We don't think that everyone in a uniform deserves the Congressional Medal of Honor, but we know that we owe a debt of gratitude to the collective group of people who have served in our armed forces, no matter what their role.