Dear Veteran;
Thanks for your service. Now, get over yourself. Several generations have come and gone since you served. TImes change. Surely some of the people who spat on you in the 60s and early 70s have changed their mind regarding you, even if they still hate the war. Even more importantly, yunger folks who thank you for service have born decades of service themselves and they are still at it last I checked. Thank them every time you see them so they do not get as botter as you may be.
Finally, tell us once again how strangers ont eh street seem to know that you are a Vietnam Vet Oh, yeah, that spiffy “look at me and thank me for my service” ball cap?
Take it off and you are just an older dude walking in WalMart.
Did I say “Thank you for service” yet?
Signed,
A guy who doesn’t wear an “I love me “ hat and just goes about bearing my circumstances privately between myself and my Creator, the rest is fluff.
I read your post a bit ago and had to think about your comments. So - are you saying that those of us who do wear ball caps celebrating our service are in the wrong? I guess that I should infer that you have either never served in a service that you are proud of - or that you feel that commemorating a service or event is beneath you - and that we're just "old men" when we don't wear our hats.
Allow me to straighten you out slightly: During our war, we were brought home in small groups and often in the dark of night to reduce the crowds and insults we would have waiting for us (or, as in my case, we were shuffled from hospital to hospital in blacked-out buses), far from the public eye. We were not encouraged to wear our uniforms, for fear of further antagonizing the "antiwar" (pro-enemy) demonstrators who were enthusiastically carrying the enemy's flag and chanting slogans supporting the enemy. We had movies and TV series made about us that routinely showed us as atrocity-committing Nazis, or maniacs about go violently crazy at any point - so getting a job after discharge was sometimes dicey.
Page forward to today. I occasionally wear my Vietnam Veteran hat because I am proud that I served in combat and lost muscle, blood and bone for my country. I am proud of our service in our war and what good, competent people we were. Most of all, I wear the hat so when another Vietnam Veteran sees me, we can talk, share stories and remember together.
Now, if some younger person thanks me for my service I am slightly surprised but respond warmly because this is a new generation - and I like them better than my generation.
Its unfortunate for you that people do not give you that recognition you deserve and crave. Most of the rest of us, even without the assistance of hats and clothing, license plates, regulation haircuts, or quirks like polishing tennis shoes and starching jeans, can identify, not 100%, most of the other vets, especially those who were enlisted, that are around us on a daily basis.
Bearing, tendency for momentary contemplation, deliberate movement, and their observance of the environment around them are the types of things that one might notice. Im one of those people that are apparently easy to identify. I normally wear off brand jeans and a plain crew neck tshirt. I don't walk around discussing the military like some people tend to do yet in public places strangers walk up and say, "Youre a veteran aren't you?" and without a response on my part thank me before they wander off. Occasionally I will meet the gaze of another vet in a public place and there is a subtle silent acknowledgment sometimes little more than a twitch in both eyelids like an aborted blink that tells us both that we know.
I was in a civilian hospital for something a couple of years ago. As I sat in the bed a stranger in scrubs walked in and before he did anything I said "Welcome home corpsman. I feel easier knowing youre here. How long have you been out?" He was shocked that I didn't just know he was a vet but specifically that he had been a corpsman. I wont bother with the thought process that told me who he was in the past and why he was in my room but I knew.
I presently work with people with disabilities. For various reasons I tend to presently work with violent individuals with mental health problems but that hasn't always been the case. When working with someone that has never had sight there is no way should they ask to ever explain in a manner that they will truly ever understand what light or the color blue is. If you truly are the person expressed above you too are blind to a wavelength that I will never be able to make you understand but that doesn't make it any less real.