Bad Chayyal?

So i went to get a haircut at my barber in chareidiville (aka Nachala Umenucha in Beit Shemesh) on erev Shabbos. I was walking out, and this chassidish kid with hir mother starts saying, "ima chayyal! Ima chayyal!" (I was in my uniform and all) but not with the usual excitement usually related to that phrase. In fact, it was quite the opposite, he was crying! He was scared of me. I've never met anyone scared of chayyalim before. His mother though, said, "it's ok hes not going to do anything." I wasn't embarrassed, but I was for sure shocked. I wonder what was going through his head then. I mean, do chassidim really teach their kids to hate the army? I can't imagine that's the case. First, they don't give me strange looks, or spit/curse at me. That's a start right? Also a bunch of times they have stopped me to ask questions. So I can't imagine they HATE. I also can't imagine that they don't appreciate the army. We, with HaShem of course, keep them safe. So I just can't imagine thats the case, that they teach to not like us. Is it possible that a chayyal did something bad to him or his family? Yeah, I guess so, anything is possible, but I hope to God not. Also, I was, of course, wearing my kippah, and my tzitzis were hanging out, so he can tell I'm religious. And he still thought I would ch"v do something? I wonder....