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

Uh..? No? Why should it? You should like being thanked for the things you do for others. Even if it means giving your own life for theirs.

I love hearing it, and always reply with I love my country so much, this is why I do it. I'll add, I hope some day you do too!

Initially it made me think a bit the first time i heard it. However i realized that when someone comes and shakes your hand thanking you for your service. They are not thanking only you directly, they are thanking you and the thousands that served before you. You are the men who died in Normandy, you are the men you died in Iraq & Vietnam.
So when someone comes to shake your hand, you look them in the eyes and remember all the men who have died defending the constitution.

We need to hear words of gratitude, it can never be said too much. Like saying, " I Love You", these words a powerful and edify a person making them feel worthy.

Don't over think it, just say thank you for your support er something like that and Charlie mike.

I don't mind, when someone tells me "thank you for your service", it gives me an opportunity to reply wholeheartedly - "We couldn't continue to serve without the support of people like you, Thank You".

Being Retired it is a bit weird to hear it. Not that I don't appreciate it, nor do I deny i served, but I just see my service as my own. I know you can say I helped protect the citizens of the US, and helped millions of people abroad by doing my service.

Privately I know this, and I have even made the point in debates of how many humans the military has helped over my 20 years and the military's life time. Yes we kill people, and well we are pretty damn good at it. But we also can save people. Millions and millions of lives have been saved because American service members were on call to come to the rescue, drop needed food n water, or build a water treatment plant where there never was one.

But it still makes me feel weird. I never asked to be recognized. I never wanted a 10% discount at Lowes. But they are there. I think there are people in this world that see the bigger picture. Humans who have this ability to see beyond the hype and media, beyond the propaganda and satire. Humans who see other humans for who they are and just want to thank them. We make it easy for these people to spot us when were are/were in uniform. Now, that we have retired/separated and moved on, I think these people are still looking just wanting to say thank you. Because we have made it we have done the deed and returned back to society. These Humans, these people just want to say "Thank you" and "welcome back".

For all my career every time someone says that, my reply's have varied as like I said it makes me feel weird and kinda puts me on the spot. But my favorite reply, when I am not surprised and can remember is. "Well thank you for your support."

No it doesn't bother me to hear "Thank you for your service!" what bothers me is that is as far as it goes, those words rarely turn into positive actions. I'm dealing with Veteran suicides and with 22-30 Veterans dying by suicide daily, I would like to hear "How can I help stop this epidemic?" https://tvfaz.org/suicide-counter/

I say thank you or your welcome.Not annoyed. It shows people in California or even Canada still care!

By CSM William Payne less than a minute ago:

I feel this is a generational issue.

For our Brothers and Sisters in Arms are having such a big problem with this, I joined the Army in 1973 and my brother served in the Marines in the 60s and did two tours in 'Nam. So I have seen both sides of the spectrum on this and let me tell you I really prefer today's reaction. Would you rather people line up to protest you, call you names like baby killers and / or do worse like spit on you like they did to returning service members from Vietnam?

When we were able to travel in ACUs, the "thank you" on the airplane usually led to dialog as to what you do in the service and allowed one to help bridge that gap of knowledge between the military and civilians. No Soldier I know will travel in ASUs, because if they are not needed for your trip it's just extra clothes to carry and if they are needed at your destination you don't want to get your uniform messed up, especially your shoes during the course of travel. So what this does is just further seperate the military experience from the flying public.

The Profession of Arms is a noble and respected occupation and being able to articulate the pride in what you do helps to keep it in that regard. I especially enjoyed it when some boy or girl walked up to me and offered their little hand while thanking me for my service.

By the way, anytime I see somebody with a service hat on, Retired, World War II, Korean, Vietnam, Desert Storm or whatever, I will make an effort to go over and thank them for their service to their country. I have had many of great conversations with a Veteran in a McDonalds that I could tell by their conversation and the look on their face how glad they are that somebody appreciates the sacrifices they made for their county.

I know for those of you that have grown up in the smart phone / texting generation may not feel comfortable about having a face to face conversation with somebody you don't know and that is one of the reasons you don't want them approaching you in the first place.

The fact that so many young people today grow up playing video games, e-mailing, texting and not having to develop interpersonal skills is one of the factors of why we have so many Soldiers feeling isolated and attempting or succeeding in commiting suicide. That we have so many Soldiers that feel alone and isolated on a military installation with thousands of like minded peers speaks volumes.

So I personally have no issue with this. My reply has been for the longest time; "Thank you, it has been an honor and a priviledge to serve my country".
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