Show Your Gratitude

OK, this is just me, but why do we need some empty gesture to replace real human interaction? Our men and women put their asses on the line in person. Open your mouth and express your gratitude. Worried that the folks in uniform will not get to eat, buy their groceries etc? Pick up the tab for them.

It aint hard folks, pay it forward.

James V Yount II
USN Retired (Medical)

Any time a citizen shows their support, it is appreciated, regardless of how it is communicated. I like it and think it is a good idea for those moments when a more intrusive approach, for whatever reason, may not be appropriate.

Ross Raymond
MGySgt USMC Retired
2nd Bn 4th Marines

With all due respect for your service, Mr. Yount, you seem oblivious to the advantages of the "empty" gesture as you call it. Not every appreciative American is as gregarious as you apparently are and the idea of picking up restaurant and grocery tabs is not financially realistic for many folks, especially those living in areas where encounters with young people in uniform occurs on a regular, if not daily basis. Moreover, you also seem to be unconcerned that what you do to express your thanks may prove to be interruptive and intrusive to our service people. Imagine the difficulty of negotiating a long airport concourse when every grateful citizen wants to stop you and shake your hand.

These are warriors, Mr. Yount, not politicians, a point you seem to have missed.

Mr. Vaughn,
You make some valid points, and I did preface my comments with a conditional. Perhaps not strongly enough.

With all due respect to you and the Gunny, my objection is to a gesture replacing human interaction. Perhaps you failed to see what I wrote?

In a world in which people can not remove their hats when the flag comes by, or even get off their dead asses; a country in which people fly tattered torn and faded flags from their porches because they are too lazy to display them properly, I tend to fear a movement which seeks to replace actual good manners with a gesture.

You seem to feel that there is no danger of it becoming a way to shortciruit normal human interaction, but rather, another way to express it.

I tend to disagree, but can at least not attempt to denigrate you in the process.

I may not walk without canes, sir, but I assure you that I am every bit the warrior I always was.

Well, I sent this information to AT about two months ago. Someone has been asleep at the wheel.

Mr Yount, what on earth is the placing of our hands over our hearts when we recite the Pledge or the flag passes but a simple gesture, as you put it? We are quibbling here over nothing more than method and interpretation, not substance. Let's leave it at this: you do it your way and let the rest of the American public show their solidarity with the troops in a way with which they are comfortable. That's what this piece was about from the very beginning, letting people who want to express their unity with and gratitude to our warriors in a less obtrusive way than what you find comfortable.

Master Chief, Admiral, whatever the hell you are, you need to recognize that not everyone has the background you have, and I have, with that accompanying ability, because of our familiarity with the military world, to step across that line and offer our thanks without feeling that we are intruding. The problem is that far too many civilians don't operate within the comfort zone that you and I do, precisely because of our considerable military experience. They are afraid to intrude and that is exactly what this entire situation is all about.

Look at it this way, this hand over the heart gesture is nothing more than a salute rendered by the non-serving to those who are placing their lives on the line for the rest of us who go shopping while they fight. You tell me, Master Chief/Admiral, since when is a salute a cheap gesture?

I ask you, Master Chief/Admiral, whatever you are, just what do you find wrong with a simple gesture of respect from American civilians to those rough men who stand ready in the dark of night to protect them from harm? Are you trying to say that only those of us who have been there and fought the good fight have a right to show our support?

That's pure crap. Again, I respect you for your service but you're on the wrong side of this argument, Yount, Master Chief, Admiral, whatever you may be.

Staff Sergeant Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Airborne Infantry
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

I'm with Yount! In fact, I like the method used on (I believe) a FedEx ad: Clap, yell, make some noise! The return of the Heroes should get LOUD praise! (At least audible!) jb

Just saying "thanks for your service" only takes like 2 seconds anyway, but this is kind of cool as an alternative.

Another alternative would be to nut-kick a liberal in their honor...

The rather spirited debate between Mr. Yount and Mr. Vaughn here is precisely the debate that I have been dealing with since I started this campaign. And the response that I have come to is that you are both right.

I agree with Mr. Yount that our society is getting increasingly fractured and actual contact between people is getting more and more infrequent. People have become increasingly uncomfortable talking to strangers, much less making a connection from the heart on something as significant as our very Freedom. That is precisely why I started this campaign. I have spent the past several years doing just what you suggest here -- approaching people, shaking hands, paying for meals and bar tabs, and thanking them verbally. I still do that. Sometimes it was easy. Sometimes it was really awkward. And sometimes, I just couldn't get to them.

Since launching this campaign I have received hundreds of e-mails from people who just can't get up the nerve to do it; others who would like to but get so choked up at the thought of it that they're afraid they won't be able to get the words out. And, on the flip side, I have received several e-mails from those who are currently serving saying that they would rather be thanked with a gesture than verbally. As much as they appreciate the support, they feel just as awkward as the civilian.

For some, this gesture is just what they have been waiting for -- a means to express their gratitude directly to another person that they are comfortable with. As much as I agree with Mr. Yount that actual human interaction is preferable, I don't think that we're going to encourage people to do that by telling them that the one thing they can bring themselves to do just isn't good enough. A gesture is still human interaction -- it's just non-verbal. There is still eye contact, and there is still an exchange of emotion. If we take away the one method that they are currently comfortable with, do you think they will be more likely to push themselves to do something uncomfortable, or just not do it at all? I suspect it will be the latter. And I for one would rather see a gesture than no thanks at all. Our service members deserve to know how much they are supported. That most of the awkward stares they are getting are from overwhelming appreciation, and not from disgust.

To Mr. Vaughn's point, when you both served, did you stop every officer and tell them verbally that you respect their rank? No. You offered a salute. It's short, sweet, to the point, and it works. This is the same idea.

I'm not suggesting with this campaign that people shouldn't offer their thanks verbally or with a hand shake if that's what they're comfortable doing. I'm simply trying to offer another option -- another tool in the toolbox for those who aren't comfortable with it or when circumstances don't permit anything else. I would love to see people interacting more, as Mr. Yount suggests. But given the option of a gesture of thanks or no thanks at all, I'd opt for the gesture.

Thank you both for your service.

The look on the face of the youngster in an Army tee shirt in the gym in a northern CA college town
was worth all the embarassment I felt in walking across the gym to say thank you for your service in front of my hippie neighbors. That said, I think the gesture "from the heart" has its uses.
Is it ok to wear my old Army
t shirts when I am no longer in service? I feel like it's a gesture of support and solidarity, but one does not wish those in current service to think one is posing as one who served in
Iraq or Afghanistan.
Andrew Isaac
CPT
US Army JAGC 1979-1986

Mr. Truitt, you are entirely correct. I will point out, however, that my side of the debate was not spirited.

Mr. Vaughn appears to me to embody all of the intemperance so prevalent in most of the Baby Boomer generation. Like his liberal counterparts, there can be no disagreeing with what he deems THE WAY. I invite Mr. Vaughn to re-examine his methods, or to take this to email.

MM2 James V. Yount II

nuclear_waste@mchsi.com