The ongoing Gen X conversation is interesting because those of us who were in high school in the early 90's got that first hard-core recruiting pitch from the military. It coincided with increasing college costs (which Black Boomer parents largely couldn't cover) & a recession

And if you were a younger grad with minimal interest in immediately going to college & limited resources (I was a 16 year old high school grad) your options were service industry, jail or military. Gen X vets largely lack that hyper patriotic narrative about service as a result

I honestly don't care if you stand, sit, kneel, bow or burn a flag. I am in that window where it was never peddled as being something to think about outside of revelry & funerals. We made it underwear & bikinis & blankets. But even that was for the 4th of July not year round.

So I am...put off I guess, bordering on offended by the way the flag is now fetishized. It's distasteful at best because nothing I was taught said I served under to prevent criticism of it. We got a pretty hard Constitution/Bill of Rights push that hindered the adoration

Plus Gen X vets not only watched Boomer vets get screwed over, we got the shaft too. I still maintain people who talk about respect for the flag don't give a tiny tin fuck about the Constitution or veterans. They love the flag because it doesn't require thoughts or feelings

Conservatives who whine about respect & flags will burn down a whole country before they'll honor the actual Constitution. If you think I'm wrong? Let me turn on the news for you. And like a lot of Gen X vets I know the same shitty grift when I see it used on Zoomers.