I’ve heard it’s Schrodinger’s virtue signaling. Most military guys get annoyed, but then when you don’t virtue signal, it just happens to be the one guy who actually enjoys it and gets upset that you didn’t say, “thanks for your service”.
That’s why you shouldn’t thank them for their service with mere words, but with song. A rousing round of God Bless America sung by the entire room is how you properly thank service members. Remind everyone in the audience that if they don’t join in, it’s because they hate America.
The suicide rate is already high enough don’t sing at them
Thank you for your service and here are your awards and medals. Your family will thank you even more when you die and they hawk your medals at my pawn shop for a few extra bucks of inheritance.
My father in law used to run flea markets on the side. Used to say that in the service he worked hard as hell and never got a medal of honor, but working the flea markets he had a jar full of them. Nobody gives a shit about service.
It’s always awkward to respond to it, too. Like, my service sucked. Don’t thank me because I was poor and needed a job and healthcare, lol. Most of the people I was in didn’t give a shit about patriotism. We just wanted to not starve to death and go to college.
I watched a documentary at a film festival a few years ago about a Vietnam vet, who was there for the premiere and took questions from the audience afterwards. The vet mentioned how much he hated hearing “thank you for your service” all the time. Another Vietnam vet stood up and asked him a question, and the first vet started off his answer with “thank you for your service”.
