Best way to show respect & courtesy to military?

[USRanger]

From experience, a stranger coming up a offering a thank you is worth more weight than you know.  I never once expected or asked for a thank you, but when I have gotten one, I can tell you it made my day.  It shows that there are people that give a damn out there.  I once visited the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall with my daughter (in full dress uniform to show my respect) and was approached over & over by VN vets and their families offering thanks for my service.  That one really stood out.  I'll never forget that.

[Charon]

Booze

Yup. Lasersailor hit it.

Pick up a bar tab or by a round or two. Seriously. Unless the new military is dramatically different from the old military, nothing says thank you quite like booze Now, Chairboy, if you were a woman....

Charon

[Chairboy]

Now, Chairboy, if you were a woman....

Charon

I guess it depends on who you ask here in the O'Club. 

[AWMac]

It makes a warm feeling inside just to have someone outta the clear blue say "Thank You".
Just look them straight in the eyes and mean it.
It means alot to all that are serving or haved served.

Mac

[wrongwayric]

I don't think you have to go out of your way to thank everyone you see in uniform or out that's in the military, just if you have the opportunity to it's appreciated. As a 13yr marine vet i know i always appreciated it and now that i'm out i return the favor to those i can. I also do this with my police, firemen, and ambulance drivers. If i see them in the truckstop or at the lunch counter getting coffee i usually step up and buy for them. I may or may not agree with what they do but i respect there service to the nation and community.
AKsleepy

[DYNAMITE]

I had a nice experience the other day...  I'm a huge VW fan, and I pulled into a parking lot and noticed a nice VW parked by itself.  I pulled up to check it out, and noticed it had x2 Purple heart award license plates.

I decided to write a note for the owner that said, "From one VW owner to another... thank you for your service!!!!" 

I parked my car and went to meet my friends.   When i came back to my car a few hours later, there was a note on my car that said "It was my pleasure!  Nice car!!"

It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside 

[Reschke]

If I see folks in uniform out and about I just thank them for their service with the offer of a handshake if I'm that close and everyone is not just rushing past one another.

If I see a couple of them having lunch, I'll get the waitress and pick up the tab, say nothing and go on about my day.

In a bar, I'll offer to buy them a drink.

That's generally what I try to do.

Ditto with what Toad describes. The only difference is I like to let the guys know that since they are taking care of us by putting their rears in armor, aircraft, boots on the ground, etc... I am taking care of their bill and its the least I can do since they are putting their life on the line. I typically do it more in the airports than anywhere else since that is where I see tons of men and women coming and going from various postings.

[LePaul]

Back in 1991, I was activated to active duty in January with our ANG Unit up here in Maine.  We deployed one set of KC-135s for 6 weeks and planned to rotate the crews out with a second rotation.  Being in aircraft maintenance, I was in the second group.  Since the Gulf War wrapped up so quickly, those of us in the second group never went to Saudi.

I felt bad about that for a while, having trained up all those years and didn't get to head over and do my part. 

One day, while still on active duty at the base, I hit the local 7-11 of all places for a soda.  I was in my desert fatigues.  An older guy opened the door for me and gave me a sharp salute.  I smiled, shook has hand and meekly explained "I didn't set foot in Saudi, sir"  He smiled and said "Doesn't matter, you signed up".

I felt like I won the war single handed that day   

[Creamo2008]

See Rules #4, #5

[DiabloTX]

^^^ wow.

[Creamo2008]

I'm wrong?

Nope.

[DiabloTX]

Bear in mind though that this thread is also about respect and courtesy.  Or did you miss that part?

[Creamo2008]

See Rules #4, #5

[jigsaw]

Some good suggestions here. One I'd like to add (especially if you run into an older vet), take a minute to listen to their stories.  When I was living in Phoenix there was a number of times I had to stop somewhere to buy something before I could get home and change out of my CFI monkey suit. Ran across a lot of ww2 vets, mostly pilots. Could see the spark in their eyes when I took the time to listen to them. On one of the more touching occasions, the gentleman's wife teared up, squeezed my arm and said "bless you" before they walked off.

[Maverick]

Wow, creamo is certainly in form. He has 5 posts and 3 that I've seen were modded.

If you don't have any respect for anyone in uniform you certainly do not need to click on or post in a thread about it.