[jaenelle]

The upcoming holiday made me think about this.

I live near a large Army base, and as such I see men and women who are in the military nearly every day. They mostly aren't people I know personally, just see them at Wal-Mart, etc. I always think that I should say "thank you" to them for what they do, but I don't want to freak them out.

Would it be weird if I did thank them? If you were (or are) in the military, would it bother you if a random person did this? Or would you be happy they did?

[Fe2002]

I would probably feel a little wierd about it... but they are truly worthy of praise.

On a flight once, I truly admired the folks in first class that gave up their seats when they saw service members heading to coach. I was so impressed by the humanity of it all... I almost started to cry.

[dragonfly1234]

Never feel weird to say THANK YOU to our service men and women. I was just at a school meeting and I always see a couple who I guess are grandparents picking up their grandchilren. During this meeting he started to talk about how he served in World War II (of course I then figured out they are picking up their great grandchildren) and I turned to him and said "thank you for serving our country". He just smiled but I knew that he appreciated the comment.

[live4rachael]

I was active duty for 6 years. The first time I heard it, I thought it was weird... but as time went on, it really meant a lot to me to have strangers come up to me. I always told them I appreciated it, but that I did volunteer to do what I did and I loved it, and that it meant a lot for them to come up to me.

[aclee]

My mother and stepfather are both retired military. My mom sent me an e-mail that shows a gesture you can make when you see them.

The Gratitude Campaign ( ... simple gestures... | Gather

I would say the vast majority of the time the solider has realized what I'm saying, but sometimes they don't act like they act like they don't see it. In those cases I just figure they either don't know the gesture, or don't see it.

[Daisy1339]

thanks, aclee!!

this is perfect and just what i was looking for!

[oceanica]

yeah aclee, thank you for that link!
I'm going to try that.
Is it sign language?

[lisa in venice]

The Boy and Girls Scouts and their families place individual flags on 85,000 graves at our local Veteran's cemetery. It used to take the ground's crew two weeks. Then they had the idea to call in the Scouts and it only takes the kids about an hour. Thousands of kids from all over Southern CA show up to do this, Boy Scouts, Cubs and Tigers, Girls Scouts Brownies and Daises, Sea Scouts, Explorer Scouts in this massive sea of kids in uniform covering the 110 acres of graves in just over an hour.

Miranda holding the flags for the boys
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y15...ment-1aspx.jpg

Sam placing them

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y15...ment-2aspx.jpg

[aclee]

Originally Posted by oceanica

yeah aclee, thank you for that link!
I'm going to try that.
Is it sign language?

yes I believe so...but it's different than the sign for thank you that I taught Ty, so I'm not sure. I don't think the sign Ty uses is ASL, so maybe this is?

[mama_again]

Originally Posted by jaenelle

Would it be weird if I did thank them? If you were (or are) in the military, would it bother you if a random person did this? Or would you be happy they did?

Don't ever feel weird if its on your heart to share a thank you or a blessing, it is amazing what it does to our ds and his family every time someone blesses him with kind words and even kind gestures... you cannot imagine how many times they have had strangers leave a restaurant and pay for his meal and his families (he has a big family). They leave and foot the bill unannounced...He is astounded every time and it tugs at our heart to hear his stories. My dh is forever showing his gratitude to so many and even brings some home to dinner... we have service men and women in our families (one that is in overseas now)... We are so proud them all the time... Thank you for this great post. Sometimes a gentle reminder is all we need!

[devildogwife]

Go ahead and do it. As a Marine Corps wife, I always really appreciated hearing things like that. Really, we live a difficult, lonely life and hearing our spouses be thanked helped a lot.