Does it bother you to hear "Thank you for your service!"?

"Thank you for your service" is a standard greeting or response when your veteran status is revealed. I thought about it and came up with a fitting standard reply; "You're welcome, it was an honor to serve but certainly not a privilege or pleasure." If you are a sniveling Officer; your reply could be; "It was an honor and privilege"

It depends on who's doing the thanking and if they actually mean it. I've had a lot of people thank me for my service but it always makes me wonder if they truly mean it. If there's something that I'm sure that we could all agree on is that we don't like when somebody's blowing smoke up our asses. Sometimes when people say "thank you for your service" I feel like they don't really mean it. Their words say one thing and their actions say another. In saying that it reminds me of something that happened years ago. I had this friend, who we all called 'Gypsy'. He was a Decorated Homeless Vietnam Veteran exposed to agent orange and diagnosed with cancer and PTSD. He was a street artist that used to hang outside of one of the bars where I used to go. He was always working on something outside and had a hump in his back from his body deteriorating from cancer. Everybody at the bar knew him and always looked out for him including me.

Well, I had come to the bar one evening in a suit just leaving a job interview. Gypsy was outside painting as usual. He looked up saw me, we said hello and did our usual "bro hug" as we liked to call it. He told me what he was working on and I told him that as usual that when he's ready for a drink let me know. I said hello to the bouncer and went to walk in the door at the same time this group of two couples. One of the guys said, "That's a nice suit, I wouldn't be hugging anybody from the street in that suit. They'd dirty it up."

Needless to say that pissed me off and I let him know it in swear words that I'm pretty sure he's never heard before. I straight up told him that Gypsy was a Veteran and that I'm a Veteran too. I won't go too much into what I exactly said but long story short, I ripped him a new asshole. And after all that he had the nerve to try to patronize me by "thanking me for my service" and even offering to buy me a beer which I refused (I actually wanted to kick his ass). I made sure for the rest of the time that I was there, I stayed far away from the guy and when Gypsy walked in, we downed about 9 or 10 pitchers of beer and laughed like old friends. We were Veterans from different eras but brothers all the same.

I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that a lot of times it's questionable when people thank you for your service when they treat people who could be Veterans like shit. If they are willing to treat somebody who could be a Veteran like that, then what makes us think that they actually mean what they say?

No. I usually ask if they did. If they did I return that remark. If they didn't, I say "Thank you for your support." People don't know it, but being 'here' and supporting us, they are doing their own part. Many people don't know how to help or show support for the military. There's a lot of ways. Accepting thanks, isn't being prideful; unless you act that way. It's good to hear people who support you. As a soldier, airman, sailor, marine.......we serve the American people. Not a portion, but all of them. People we'll never met, people we love, and people who hate us.

I wear my Marine Corps cap sometimes, so some folks do thank me for my service. It is a great thing that people care enough to say thank you.

It doesn't really bother me. Say you're welcome and move on. Where it starts getting annoying is the "I would have joined but the _____ wouldn't take be because I have __________." Though entertaining sometimes, it gets annoying.

I appreciate it from individuals, like my Neurologist today, who put some feeling into it. When it's from a clerk or phone answerer as part of a script, it bugs the crap out of me.

Never

I appreciate all people who take the time to thank a person serving. It's how you respond to them and be appreciative that matters.

When it means something to the person saying it I don't mind. When it is obviously scripted (like when talking to the phone bank at Veteran's Choice for instance, I resent it.

Yes, I am not a hero, my career became a duty to a higher calling.

It is always a pleasure to be thanked, however it's a better feeling to reply it was my honor to have been a part of continuing their Freedoms