I have ball cap with “ARMY” on it that I rarely wear. It’s camoflage, and it doesn’t have ribbons on it or anything like that.
It’s not sweat-stained like the rest of my caps.
If someone wants to wear a cap with their service ribbons–fine. It’s just not my style.
I saw an older man in a wheelchair last year with a ribboned cap that said “WW II Korea Vietnam”. I was pretty impressed and gave him my Flag Day pin to put on the hat. He said “Naw, this thing’s got enough crap on it.” 
but he took it anyway.
Should I assume that an older man wearing, say, a Marines jacket actually served? I know a younger guy might be using it for some kind of dating advantage, but I’d hope a senior would have gotten past that foolishness.
I usually assume that older guys are for real. The ridiculous fake-military posing seems to be mostly a phenomenon of the Internet Generation, bunch of bullshitters that they are.
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.
He could’ve served. Might’ve been called up, but never was. Just worked on planes at Ellington Field.
Doesn’t hold himself out as what he calls “a REAL veteran”.
Some people hold themselves out and some are realistic, I think.
As I mentioned in another thread: it doesn’t matter whether you were rear echelon or front line; what’s important is that you did your job and served honorably. I’m a little fuzzy on the reserves issue, though. Do you have to be active duty in order to be considered a vet?
Yes, but Active Duty includes deployments, not just serving full time.
(Edit)
I believe that is the policy definition, anyway.
I don’t know about that–I’ve run across a lot of not-quite-Nam-aged guys who either wildly over-exaggerate their service, or just make it up out of whole cloth. Of course, pretty much all of those claim to have either been Army Rangers or Navy Seals, so that’s a helpful sorting mechanism. That, and how much they talk about it–impe, people who did most talk about it least, and vice versa.
+1
These men and women protected and defended my country - many of them with their lives. And they’re still doing it today.
My father was a WW2 vet, as was my uncle and maternal grandfather. My great uncle served in WW1.
They can wear any damn thing they like. We show far too little respect to these people as it is. As far as I’m concerned, a reminder of who and what they represent is a very good thing, indeed.
As long as they’re not lying about having served, I could give a toss what other people are wearing. I do not find it boastful in any way.
I was a Recon Ranger Seal Beret. They’re quite rare.
Bolding mine. This is so true. My boyfriend is a former Army Ranger, and he hardly ever talks about what he did. Some of the stuff he did he’s still not allowed to talk about even many years after the fact.
Contrast that with the guy my sister dated who claimed he was a Navy Seal. All these ridiculous stories about how he single-handedly saved the day more times than he could count. We later found out he either flunked out or was kicked out of the Navy after only a few months.
But back to the topic, I have no problem with the Veteran hats.
No different than me wearing that “Bermuda” hat I got then I went there, except that these guys had a much more intense vacation experience than me. It’s not much different from a concert T-shirt - for a really, really huge event.
The military is all about the badges and ribbons. That is what you get rather than good pay and security. So I can’t fault an old guy for showing off a tiny bit.
The veterans I respect and admire most never spoke about their service unless asked. My asshole neighbor OTOH, I’ve never seen him without a lot of Vietnam paraphernalia.
That’s just my narrow personal experience talking though. Veterans earned the right to wear whatever the hell they want and on Veterans’ Day, at parades & funerals, I expect to see service wear.
I still think my neighbor wears an excessive amount of military garb what with his button & patch-laden vest, the ribbon/pinned ball cap, and the vehicles plastered with stickers. But he’s a know-it-all douchebag and if he weren’t suck a dick, I probably wouldn’t raise an eyebrow.
Perhaps he failed the Seal training, which is more common than not. I had a friend in the Seabees (yup, me and Ward Cleaver) who had been in Seal training, but they discovered a heart murmur and put him out of the program. No shame in not making the grade, but just being in the program for awhile doesn’t make you a Seal.
It’s at least fourteen times less tacky than wearing a Super Bowl ring, and nobody makes fun of those.
They can wear period uniforms and carry their Garands, for all I care. They’ve earned it.
To all of Y’all that are bad mouthing us Veterans, you need to sit down and shut up! For nearly 20 years after I came home from Viet Nam, I still couldn’t talk about it, because most of America was sick of hearing about it. That’s what the news media did for us. And that’s why they don’t let them into the desert storm arena. Anyway, back in the the early 70’s, if you even mentioned you had spent time in country, you were a target for those fanatics who wanted to shoot us down. I don’t wear any of the stuff that shows that I’m a veteran, except for when I go to VA Hospital or when I’m on a float during the the Veterans Day Parade. It’s almost overwhelming that it nearly brings tears to my eyes to see the many thousands of people lining the streets, flags waving, screaming Thank You, cheering us on. Some people even run up to us to shake our hands thanking us for serving our country.
We didn’t want to go to Viet Nam, but we were considered cowards or traitors if we didn’t go. I spent 375 days in Viet Nam dodging bullets everyday. Now in our great Country, you never know where the bullets are coming from or from whom.
As for the guys who try to shove their veteranship down our throats, I can’t really speak for them, only that maybe they didn’t really serve. Most of us veterans share our experiences with mostly only other veterans. All in all, the reasons why most of us veterans display our colors, is because we are proud of having served our Great Country and that America should never forget why we are a Great Nation! Thank You, CrazeeDave 
I used to own an ice cream store; if you came in wearing one of those hats, your cone was free.
Free ice cream? Shit, gimme that hat.
Now I imagine a whole group of guys sitting out front, passing around the hat and going in one by one. 