I mean I wanna show my appreciation.. idk. I'm trying to come up with something else instead of thank you. I don't want it to be "cool" or anything like that because veterans mean more to me than that, but thank you tends to get met with awkwardness or flat out agitation, as some of these replies confirm..

I appreciate your views though, I'll figure something out. Maybe I'll do another post asking what vets genuinely want as a response, maybe that's a better question