In your eyes, is it polite, when someone is decked out in their military or police attire in public (ie in a restaurant), to quickly thank them for their service? Or would you rather not be bothered?

Excellent post. I think it would be appreciated.

I do it for service people very often. I don't linger, just a quick 'thank you for your service to our great country'. No one has ever appeared bothered by it.

I think it depends on the person. I have one brother who loves people and isn't shy by any standards, and loves to talk to people.
Other brother was more on the shy side, son slightly reserved but would and will talk to anyone who is polite. Daughter who is a guard in a Texas jail is chatty, but tends to be suspicious of overly friendly strangers.

Just be courteous and polite, cheerful, say what you have to say and then back off. If he/she is in a good mood (and you have no idea of what horrors they have seen recently) he/she will be glad to talk to you.

--------------------------------------------
In the Ft.Worth/Dallas air port, I saw a young serviceman look longingly into a cafe window and then glance into his wallet, then walk away. So I bought two sandwiches, and more candy and soda than I wanted and asked if he would share it with me. Turns out he was headed to the same base I was, my SIL was stationed there. Nice young man, away from home for the first time. Very polite he was, sweet mannered. And hungry, all late teens and early 20s are always hungry. After raising teenagers that much I knew. That was little enough to give him, considering what he might have to give for us.

Bless you for showing kindness to this young man. You made a difference in his life, if only for a short time. Kindness is never wasted.

As the mom of a police deputy, I always thank them. As well as our military. If I can't get right up to them, I just give them the thumbs up. I'm from the Vietnam era and our military really got a bum deal. So I want to make sure that our young men and woman who are fighting for us know that they are appreciated. As for the police, they get too much negativity. I can't tell you how many times I've heard how bad the cops are because they pulled me over and gave me a ticket. Well, if you weren't speeding, you wouldn't have been pulled over and that officer might be out catching other bad guys. Ok, I've vented. That's a touchy subject to me.

I'm totally there with ya klgreene...my brother is a cop and one of his fellow police officers was killed this week, so it's been on my mind a lot lately how much they do for me and how little people do for them...

i am an ex sailor a 9 year vet. Yes service members like to know they are appreciated. Most will talk to you but some are very reserved depends on what they have seen and how long they have been doing that. I woudl say come say hi and then go aobut yoru business and if they want to talk they will. Just mho.

YES PLEASE acknowledge them they need it!!!