# What do you think about those "Veteran" baseball caps with the service ribbons? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 12, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-about-those-veteran-baseball-caps-with-the-service-ribbons/602657 "2011-11-12T00:45:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-about-those-veteran-baseball-caps-with-the-service-ribbons/602657/61 "2017-05-23T19:00:41Z")
> [@DeepLiquid](#): > > He spent a lot of my childhood in Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines, so I didn’t know him well. Got to know him when we were both older, he was a good dad and a nice man. He died at age 73 from some weird cancer they couldn’t explain… so I figure Vietnam got him, it just waited a while to take him. I’m sure that during four tours, he came into intimate contact with agent orange (assuming he was a ground pounder and not a pilot or on a ship), which is a carcinogen. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-about-those-veteran-baseball-caps-with-the-service-ribbons/602657/62 "2017-05-23T20:02:53Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > Quoted for truth! 😃 > > Before I wised up and became a Seabee, I was stationed on the USS Enterprise (CVN-65, not NCC-1701). A couple of years ago my mom found my old command ball cap (like [this one](https://www.amazon.com/USS-Enterprise-CVN-65-Ships-Ball/dp/B00EJMDE8A)) and brought it to our house. > > I was going to throw in the box o’ crap in the basement, but my 5 year old son fell in love with it and wears it all the time. I’m glad he likes it, but I have no desire to wear it anymore. Did I ask you before what units you served with? ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-about-those-veteran-baseball-caps-with-the-service-ribbons/602657/63 "2017-05-24T13:50:42Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Did I ask you before what units you served with? Probably, but happy to answer again. I was with NMCB-4 in the early-mid 90s out of Camp Moscrip, Roosevelt Roads PR then NMCB-25 in the reserves until January 2001. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-about-those-veteran-baseball-caps-with-the-service-ribbons/602657/64 "2017-05-24T17:47:15Z")
If I wore hats, I would wear either my one of my Yankee caps or my ship’s cap. I think I still have one of my old ball caps from the USS Ranger (CV-61). If not I could easily buy one. The veteran cap seems a little odd, I guess a unit/ship cap makes more sense to me but I see nothing wrong with wearing one. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-about-those-veteran-baseball-caps-with-the-service-ribbons/602657/65 "2017-05-24T18:35:28Z")
I think nothing for or against them in general. Personally though, i would never wear one for a few reasons. Some people like the attention and like to be noticed, me? not so much. I prefer to fade into the scenery and go about unseen and unnoticed, a non entity. I can not do that if i am wearing a sign. With the attention comes too many questions. I don’t want to field the questions, if i am not wearing a sign, no one will ask them, and no one will give me that look when they really did not want to know the answer to begin with. I know they mean well, but i don’t need the thanks. I can still walk and see and wipe my own ass and push my own lawn mower. If you really want to thank me don’t say anything to me, instead go do something for all the dead and broken, make sure they and their families are not lost or forgotten or cast aside. If you want to notice something, notice them. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-about-those-veteran-baseball-caps-with-the-service-ribbons/602657/66 "2017-05-24T22:37:39Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > Probably, but happy to answer again. I was with NMCB-4 in the early-mid 90s out of Camp Moscrip, Roosevelt Roads PR then NMCB-25 in the reserves until January 2001. I was with MCB 40 and MCB 5. We did a Camp Mousecrap tour, but I was TDY to St. Thomas, VI. Tough duty. Others included Rota, Spain; Guam (worst tour outside of Vietnam); and two TDY detachments to Japan out of Okinawa. Also did a couple of CBUs, NAVSTA Adak, a public works in MA and a few years with the State Department. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-about-those-veteran-baseball-caps-with-the-service-ribbons/602657/67 "2017-05-25T11:49:57Z")
> [@BrassyPhrase](#): > > My SO is a veteran from the Vietnam era, but it was the AF Reserves. He never served in any kind of military engagement, but that was more luck than anything. He feels guilty every Veteran’s Day when he gets a thank you from his company for serving. Gulf War era veteran myself, but I never made it to the Gulf, or anywhere for that matter. I spent my time in training or on air fields maintaining air traffic control equipment. I recently added the “veteran” tick box to my driver’s license, and recently used my VA Mortgage (for the second time), but other than that, I don’t put myself anywhere close to the category of the grunts who did the hard work. It even felt awkward when the seller of the house thanked me for my service, which was so very long ago. > [@Larry55X](#): > > I wear the hat now at the age of 66. I was a Dust-Off medic in Cu Chi 1969 -70. For many years I could not say the word “Vietnam”. Now I wear the hat hoping to meet someone that was “there”. We only wanted to live long enough to make it back to the “world”. Alive. I take it you’ve not been back? I spent a few days in Hanoi about this time last year on a business trip. I was _really_ worried about what my treatment would be like as an American. No one gave a rat’s ass, and it was a vibrant, prospering city. Visiting might close some wounds. Thanks for your service. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-about-those-veteran-baseball-caps-with-the-service-ribbons/602657.md?page=3)