"Thank You For Your Service"

Chet

Chet

Well-known Member
Location
PA, USA
Today being Memorial Day, I went to the cemetery to visit the graves. On the way I wore my ball cap that says Air Force on it, and I was greeted by someone going the other way and he said "thank you for your service". I was a little surprised and made no response. Is there an appropriate response?
 

I always respond: "thank you. you're very kind".

If the words come from another vet, I may stop and engage in a bit of chit chat about our service experience.

If the other person was a fellow swabby, it is obligatory to immediately exchange sea stories......each story begining with the phrase "now this is no shit".
 
Llynn said:
I always respond: "thank you. you're very kind".

If the words come from another vet, I may stop and engage in a bit of chit chat about our service experience.

If the other person was a fellow swabby, it is obligatory to immediately exchange sea stories......each story begining with the phrase "now this is no shit".
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...and that ain't no shit! ;)
 
I have to tell you that I'm bothered by this "Thank you for your service" thing. I spent 4 years as a US Navy Corpsman (Medic), and I'm proud that while I may not have been a 4-0 sailor, I gave 100% to being a Corpsman. I was never in harms way, whatsoever. But when you stack up what I gave up compared to the men, who gave up all, there's no comparison. I feel those are the men, who have earned their nation's thanks. When someone says "thank you for your service", I want to say thank the ones, who deserve your thanks way more than me.
 
In my youth I attempted to enlist in the military (my dad was a 20 year man) but failed the physical exam due to a medical condition. While I did not serve in the military, I was a former IRS agent. Strangely, almost no one ever says Thank You to me for my years of service to the public. Gee, I wonder why.
 
I have lived in or passed through many nations at war in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. I was a participating soldier in one of them and I belonged to the side of "the bad guys" although most people on the same side do not agree. The point is that I am ashamed of what we did and why we did it. “We” as a nation. So if someone thanks me for my service it is unclear to what depth their thanks is meant so there is only one appropriate response for me to make. “Thank you”. I am thanking them for expressing thanks to me without going into political-moral issues because I see their words as personal, not political or patriotic. They may have political or patriotic reasons for thanking me but it is not my interest to force a debate with every Tom, Dick, and Harry to see if they agree with my moral compass. What response would be expected to “Good morning!” Shove it up your ass? Of course not. When people say "Thank You For Your Service" it makes them feel good about themselves. Why should anyone throw a wet blanket on them?
 
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I get thanked often and I respond that it is I who should be thanking them for paying my way on a world tour to foreign lands that I would never have seen otherwise. makes them step back a bit,,ha
 
Chet said:
Today being Memorial Day, I went to the cemetery to visit the graves. On the way I wore my ball cap that says Air Force on it, and I was greeted by someone going the other way and he said "thank you for your service". I was a little surprised and made no response. Is there an appropriate response?
Click to expand...
I'm 70 almost 71. I served with U.S. Marines during a rather unpopular time. Too bad we didn't get a very friendly welcome home instead of what we recieved most of the time coming home.
I always now thank Veteran's for their service knowing what they know. They don't have to be traumatized folks that served in combat. All they had to do was sign on the dotted line and they've got my respect.
God bless'em.
 
Frogfur said:
I'm 70 almost 71. I served with U.S. Marines during a rather unpopular time. Too bad we didn't get a very friendly welcome home instead of what we recieved most of the time coming home ......
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That's true. After a very short debriefing at Ft. Lewis, I went to the airport to catch a flight home. I hadn't even checked in when a young girl looked straight at me in my dress greens and said, "Asshole!" I didn't even know what she meant or why she said it. This was 1967 and during the 66-67 year I was in Vietnam a whole lot of anti-war protests had begun. I didn't know that. Some years later I understood what that girl was trying to say to me. I gave her a break because of her age and so I forgave her in absentia and eventually, I became a Vietnam Veteran Against the War.
 

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