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

It always feels weird. I never did it for thanks. I really don't feel I deserve thanks. I saw so many Soldiers do and give more than I did. I really want to be thanked by letting me go about my day normally. The thank you just reminds me of all the things I feel I should have done better for my troops overseas. I always take the thanks and thank them for their consideration because there have been and are so many who will never get the thanks they deserve.

SPC Larry Buck For those who have never served, maybe "Thanks for your service." is all they know to say. Hard to expect more, IMHO. I enlisted in the Reserves in 1980 while in college. Wearing my ROTC uniform or my Reserve uniform on campus elicited a far different response. Getting spit upon was a weekly thing. Once commissioned, things really did not change outside the installations.
It was well-past 911 before I was ever thanked in public. Not that it was ever necessary for me to be thanked. I just think our nation started to become more aware of what servicemen and women were doing. It does not bother me to thank or be thanked. When I offer a "thank you", I do so knowing some of what that person has given to wear our nation's colors. At the least, I can offer a statement of awareness and gratitude.
Do I think veterans should be approached to continue service? Yes, sir I do! That is a wealth of knowledge that could be tapped and used. I hope you find a way to continue your contributions, SPC Larry Buck! Wish you well, brother.

I don't find it offensive, but - cynically, perhaps - all too often I find the comment coming almost automatically from folks who often have no idea what it is like to serve, but who have been told that it is what they are supposed to say. Coming up on fifty years since I originally enlisted, I guess there is a tinge of bitterness at how long it has taken and how hollow the words often seem to ring.

Perhaps you are looking at it through a broken or damaged lens. While watered down since 9/11, I think the phrase is generally and genuinely used to appreciate what you sacrificed for the nation, whether you hung up your uniform or not. As such, I usually respond with a "Thank you for your support", as I choose to look at the phrase through rose colored lenses.

I do my best when ever I am thanked for my service to respond by thanking them for their support and to tell them that I appreciate it. It is a two way street.

It would bother me if my uniform looked as awful as yours does, i.e. your beret. And if you do not feel a bit of satisfaction from someone thanking you for your service then it is time for you to get out. Because we don't do this job for the money we do it for our country and the people in it, so obviously there is nothing in it for you. Or maybe you have an MOS that makes you feel unaccomplished.

My drill sergeant use to say, "No one should thank you for being a soldier, that's what paychecks are for. There are no drafts you volunteered to be here."

I understand your reaction. I don't think that's how most people intend it though. You served. Take pride in that. The reason you separated from the service does not matter.

I always respond with, "thank you, it was an honor to have served." I feel that it implies to the individual that our country, its people and they themselves are worth the time and risks.

I remember when my dad got home from Vietnam. We was yelled at, cussed out, spit on (once that I saw), and treated like dirt. As a kid I did not know that what he did mattered. Now after 25 years post my own active duty, I find "thank you for your service" as a great thing. Like some of the other comments below it feels like I matter, what I did is appreciated, and it means something to someone else. But it also tells me that what my Dad (now 18 years deceased) did back in the 50's/60s/70d/80s also means that what he did mattered, that we are sorry we spit on you, that your son did not need to witness our disrespect. I am a proud vet and what we all have done matters. Thank you brothers and sisters in arms!