Thank Me for My Service!
I personally could care less if you noticed I’m a Marine vet and thank me. I’m usually caught off guard or embarrassed that someone noticed and said something. Now I know that they are being polite, and I usually reply to “Thank you for your service” with a short sweet, and polite “Thank you for your support” and I move on. Half the time, it takes a second for me to realize what they said, which is very likely my brain fog issues caused by RA and Fibro and my meds.
Recently, I ran across some posts on Facebook about wearing attire that shows that you are a veteran, and how it is lame. I’m proud of my service, but I get what they are saying, I think there is a line that can be drawn here. I often wear a baseball hat and my family keeps me in an endless supply of USMC baseball-style hats, with my favorite being the Rothco Vintage USMC Embroidered cap, I have four of them in various conditions. Wearing a hat is comfortable for me, so I tend to wear them often, in fact, if you took me working full time out of the picture, I wear a hat about 75% of the time. My family also keeps me in Marine Corps t-shirts, so I’m often wearing one when I’m off work. My truck has a small Marine Corps sticker (USMC Sticker with Gold Foiling) in the back window as my license plates are my state’s Marine Corps plates. And my laptop has the same small sticker as my truck. I also fly a Marine Corps flag under my American flag on the pole in my yard. I don’t think that it is too much or over the top. But, according to the comments in that post, I am way over the top and lame.
Now, having a camouflaged wrapped Corvette C8, with Florida license plates that spell out “MAR SOC” and the rear bumper embossed with “USMC SEMPER FI 0326 E6”, just might be over the top, lol. Based on the rear of the car, the driver is in MARSOC as an SSgt and is in the Reconnaissance Marine Parachute and Combat Diver Qualified MOS. The photo was taken in Spring Hill, Florida (not my photo). It actually doesn’t bother me; besides, the owner is practicing really bad OPSEC. But other than that, it doesn’t bother me, because as far as I’m concerned, he earned it, and he can flaunt it however he wants. Sure, he seems to have made his military service his entire personality, but to each their own.
The post that I saw this on had some pretty negative comments, such as “He went ‘Full Oorah“, “Overcompensating for a small cannon“, “What a Tool“, “Damn bro….save some OPSEC for the rest of us” and “So you can thank me for my service.”.
Staying on the same subject, but in a different post, a comment stated “It’s fine to flex the veteran mystique…. for the first 4 years you are out.” and I disagree, Now, the ‘vette is a little much as is the guy with 20-30 military stickers on the back of his car. I live in a very Marine Corps-heavy area, 45 minutes from D.C. and 20 minutes from MCB Quantico, not only do many active-duty Marines live around me, but many more retirees live around here. I can say without any doubt that most will have some type of identifying sticker on their vehicle, with the most often being an EGA. Many active duty seem to have the punisher skull on their vehicle, and I reserve that sticker for real operators personally.
Sure, some of these Marines are likely making their military time, their entire personality, but like I stated before, what is it to you? Though it is way over the top, the ‘vette is still tasteful, and does not bring shame to the Corps.
I guess my question to those that feel the vet or hell my stickers on my truck are over the top and lame, is what is it to you? Why are you so triggered about it?
Most of us are not looking for acknowledgment, instead we are simply proud of our service. For me, because I live in an area with other Marines, I’m just letting them know that I’m one of their brothers. If you want to thank me for my service, that is entirely up to you. I’m fine with you quietly noticing it and moving on.
Now in the ‘over the top’ category, I bring you this sailor (I have a whole post dedicated to this character). Everything about his entire persona screams, not shouts, “Thank Me For My Service, I’m Special!“. I personally don’t care if he is a retired SEAL or maybe A MARSOC, DEVGRU, JTAC, AFSOC, Space Force, Delta Force, Ranger, Green Beret, Special Forces, Space Shuttle Door Gunner, Sniper, Night Stalker, Force Recon, Nuclear Launch Specialist, a private contractor who was a Drill Instructor in ROTC. I appreciate your military career and thank you for all you have done, but you don’t need to shout it to the world like you are a General in the Korean People’s Army Ground Force or something.
Be proud of your service, you earned it. Not everyone can join, wanted to join, or did not join. You did your time, period, be proud of that.
Semper Fi
Author
Welcome to the Average Joe Weekly blog. This is basically my place on the web where I can help spread some of the knowledge that I have accumulated over the years. I served 10+ years in the Marine Corps on Active Duty, but that was some 25 years ago.
