Happy Veterans Day!

[Stan Cooper]

Thank You For Your Service.

 

[Timbeck2]

I get told this all the time and have never come up with a proper response. "You're welcome" just isn't right. As a retired AF guy, I get told this driving through the gate from someone wearing the same uniform that I used to wear and that just makes it awkward..."um, yeah...you too."

If another veteran has a response that "works" I'm all ears.

Having said that, I'm grateful that you posted this Stan. Thank you.

 

[Skip Miller]

I simply say “Thank you” to a civilian. To an active military person or a vet, I add “too.”

Skip Miller
Lt SC, USNR (Ret)

 

[Stan Cooper]

If another veteran has a response that "works" I'm all ears.
Having said that, I'm grateful that you posted this Stan. Thank you.

Tim, I just say "Thank you; I got more out of serving than the Air Force got out of me."

By that, I mean my military service set me up for a successful career as a civilian.

 

[Timbeck2]

By that, I mean my military service set me up for a successful career as a civilian.

Me too, in more ways than one.

 

[Flocker]

I always say "my pleasure." It really was.

 

[wanttaja]

Thank You For Your Service.
View attachment 91722

Thanks, but you missed one....

Ron Wanttaja

 

[rtk11]

I thank all of you who served. I wish I had, and I deeply respect all who did.

 

[denverpilot]

 

[Michael Marra]

Thanks for remembering Veteran's Day!

A few photos from wars past...

Mike N714AJ

 

[Timbeck2]

If those were taken at PSAB Mike, we may have spoken to each other at the time.

 

[Velocity173]

Happy Veterans Day!

 

[Stan Cooper]

Thanks, but you missed one....
<U.S. Space Force>
Ron Wanttaja

I thought of that, Ron, but are there any servicemembers who have served in the Space Force that qualify as "veterans"?

The VA defines "veteran" as “a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service, and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable.”

 

[Ventucky Red]

Thanks for starting the thread Stan... Too all out there, many many many many thanks... and if we meet, the beer is on me.

 

[flhrci]

I thought of that, Ron, but are there any servicemembers who have served in the Space Force that qualify as "veterans"?

The VA defines "veteran" as “a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service, and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable.”

The way I understand it, current Air Force people have transferred to the Space Force, so they would be Vets.

 

[Stan Cooper]

The way I understand it, current Air Force people have transferred to the Space Force, so they would be Vets.

That's an interesting interpretation. The Space Force is actually part of the Department of the Air Force just as the Marine Corps is part of the Navy Department, so I don't think they "were discharged or released therefrom." It's more like they were transferred, and since the Space Force is brand new my guess is there are few, if any, who have been discharged or released and therefore wouldn't meet the definition of "veteran."

Maybe just semantics?

 

[samiamPA]

Thank you all for your service! I hope you all feel the gratitude of America on this and every day.

Btw, I always thank my patients who are veterans for their service - their most common response is "thank you for your support."

 

[Jumpmaster]

For me it’s always been a bit embarrassing to be thanked. I come from a large family of veterans starting with my maternal grandfather who was a WWI and WWII vet, my father who was a Korean vet, to aunts and uncles who were Vietnam vets and my oldest son who did a tour in Afghanistan in the US Army as a surgeon in a latter day MASH unit. Military service was an expectation in my family. Of the 5 kids, 4 were in military service and two retired - one from the Navy and one from the Air Force. In my case, I was an Army ROTC scholarship cadet and consequently owed 4 years of active service. I was commissioned as an Infantry officer with 3 years in the Reserves while in law school and subsequently branch transferred to the JAG Corps for most of my active duty. I did get a Caribbean vacation at the direction of President Reagan but that was pretty much after things had settled down and I left the Army just before Desert Storm. Point is when the Army reminded me that I had a date with them, I became the second highest paid guy in my graduating law school class in 1981 so it wasn’t a hardship from that perspective since more than 1/2 of my class didn’t have jobs when they graduated. Airborne school, Jumpmaster school, etc. was just fun and games, and Ft. Bragg had lots of interesting units and things to do. As a JAG, I could strap hang with my units (I was a military prosecutor for a while and later a law of war/war ops adviser) and got to go to lots of fun places and made a lot of contacts which allowed me to go to both Canadian and Honduran airborne schools. I was asked to represent a few guys from the 7th Special Forces Group which turned into to a never ending adventure of helicopter jumps, water jumps including Shark Dz in Florida out of the tailgate of a C-130, weapons training with about every kind of weapon manufacture in the world, and so on. Began working with the Golden Knights which ended up with a few road shows with them and learning how to free-fall. It wasn’t all a good time. There were a few courts martial I might do differently today; certainly participating in a friendly fire death investigation and presenting the report to the family members has remained stuck in my mind. In retrospect it is maybe me that should be thanking the taxpayers.

 

[wanttaja]

Very low impact service for me...office environment the whole time, in the CONUS, never even owned a set of fatigues, was an officer working with engineers so there was little Mickey Mouse. Working rotating shifts was the only negative side.

Ron Wanttaja

 

[Michael Marra]

If those were taken at PSAB Mike, we may have spoken to each other at the time.

YEP! Thank you for all the great ATC control if you were in the tower...

Had the "luck" to be an active "participant" in the Persian Gulf War, Bosnia, Somalia, Haiti, a few dust-ups in Africa, and then the "latest unpleasantness" in Central Asia post 9/11 and Iraq!

Do not miss living in tents....do miss the flying (at times).

My new motto upon military retirement: "Why dig-in when you can check-in?"

Mike N714AJ

 

[catmandu]

I get told this all the time and have never come up with a proper response. "You're welcome" just isn't right . . .

If another veteran has a response that "works" I'm all ears.

I understand that uncomfortable feeling, especially when it comes from peers. It is even more uncomfortable when it comes from elderly family who you looked up to for THEIR service, who have jumped on the "TYFYS" bandwagon.

I (politely) downplay it when it comes from those close to me.

For the general public, my response is "It was truly my pleasure." Because it was.

On the other hand, I heard one guy, after getting his Vet discount checking out at Home Depot, reply "Don't. Worst time in my life."

So, honesty is your friend, I suppose.

 

[EvilEagle]

I echo the feelings. I never felt just right when people thank me. I typically say "It was my pleasure and thank you for supporting us".

As a recent retiree (yeah!!) It already feels different knowing that I can't be called up in the middle of the night to be pulled away from my family and sent to the middle of nowhere on a moment's notice. I'll never again be shot at (hopefully). I am lucky enough to get to work and live in a capitalist society now (living in the military is MUCH more like socialism than capitalism). If I don't want to do something, I have the luxury of not doing it. The worse thing that will happen is losing my job - I won't go to jail, I won't get anyone killed, no one will have to go get shot at because I said no, I won't have to risk my neck again. Leaving the service really shown a light on the SERVICE part of it for me when I realized all the things I've always done and dealt with that I no longer have to do. I definitely have a different perspective on saying TYFYS than I did just a few short weeks ago; I realize why some people feel the need to say it. I appreciate them that much more now even though I won't be able to convey that to them.

I'll be the one thanking people for their service now.

 

[bflynn]

I was looking through photos yesterday, general cleaning of accumulation. I ran a picture of me on board the boat near the end of my tour and noticed I had a PAPER CLIP attached to my front shirt pocket. Very non-regulation and doubly so since it stood for People Against People Ever Re-enlisting, Civilian Life Incentive Program.

Glad to have done it. Glad to not being doing it anymore.

 

[Sac Arrow]

Veteran's day was never a big deal to me. I grew up in a military family, and to me it was just a job, and the thing I knew about and understood. Frankly the whole 'thank you for your service' weirds me out a little. Well, you're welcome, but, I signed up to blow stuff up and kill MF's. Or whatever. It was just refreshing not to have to wake up and figure out what you are going to wear that day.