This public „thanks for your service“ thing is so weird to me.. Here in Switzerland you have actual soldiers sitting next to imyou in the trains at the beginning and end kf the week. Most of them haven’t joined voluntarily and even the ones who did, no one would ever think about thanking them for thei service. It’s a job like any other, or a mandate for most. Same for surrounding countries who don’t have mandatory military duties.

I find it particularly weird in the US where the most common reason for someone to join the military is to pay of debt or because they pay for your education. My responds to that would be “Stop thanking me and maybe vote for people who wanna change the system so I don’t have to put my life at risk to be able to study.”

According to your link, the museum ship is the Sloop of War, the second USS Constellation, that went after slave traders during the Civil War.

I can't tell at a glance which ship is on your hat, the sloop or the original frigate known as the Yankee Racehorse, because I don't know anything about different sailing ships.

Either way, you're certainly not "stealing valor" by wearing a hat that celebrates these fine ships.

Depending on the situations you could seize the "teachable moment" and tell the person a little about the ship on your hat. "What? Oh this is the famous Revolutionary/Civil War ship, see it's a frigate/sloop with sails. She ran the British blockade/ captured slavers and defended America."

If it's in passing, you could just let it pass. You probably didn't understand the first couple of times, you could pretend you still don't. "Thank you but I'm not military" is an option as well.

It's probably best to avoid sounding like you're making fun of people who join the armed forces.

It's a nice hat!

Americans are weird 07

Technically her sister ship is still active duty

• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constitution

Just thank them back. We’re all taxpayers

To be fair, you can't really see what kind of ship that is from more than 10 or 15 feet. The lettering is big, but from afar you just see a white blur of a ship. And if you're tall it makes seeing the ship clearly even more difficult.

Got told "thank you for your service" AGAIN today. I think maybe Disney employees are under command of The Mouse to say it.