Basil:
To which you replied, with menacing stare: "You shouldn't speak like that to people you don't know!"
All sorts of replies come to mind, but SWMBO was sitting opposite and taking it out on my shins under the dining table as an encouragement to change the subject!
You are right of course, they were foolish to mess with a highly decorated (1 GSM) cold war hero, but that rather makes AlR's point that stereotypes ill serve anyone, be they serving, ex-Service, or civilians alike.