Do Guardsmen qualify for Veteran Status under any circumstance beyond 180+ day deployment or 20 year retirement?

1LT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 02 Jan 2020 20:12:59 -0500

So, long story short; I've been asked multiple times by some of my troops if they qualify for veteran status when it comes to hiring, etc. if they've never been activated for the requisite 180 days outside training or retired with 20 years that big army regulation lists.

Our last BDE S1 told me that they do qualify for veteran's preference, etc. so long as they've served 6 years in good standing with the guard ( ie; a full year's worth of points, no AWOL's, so on and so forth. ). The math roughly checks out that 6 years = 180+ days of service, but I've been searching everywhere I can think of and for the life of me cannot find ANYTHING that backs this up. It does seem weird to me that someone could serve in the guard for 10+ years, do multiple state activation periods and/or other voluntary periods of orders; and still not qualify, but nothing says the rules have to make sense. I know the easy "google it" answer, but I can't find anything on this and don't want to be giving wrong answers here it if is actually a thing that I just lack the right way of searching for.

Has anyone ever heard of this? Is it maybe a state-specific rule to our guard units, unusual interpretation, or some weird quirk of Army regs that barely anyone knows about?

Response by SSG Brian G. made Jan 2 at 2020 9:36 PM

SSG Brian G. — Thu, 02 Jan 2020 21:36:40 -0500

The long and short is this. A person is a military veteran if any of the following apply to them.

Have been General or Honorably discharged.
Have served 90 days in war time.
Have served 180 days in peace time.

Serving pertains to active duty and training time ie schools count towards this.

Have severed 6 years and not missed any time, no AWOLS etc in the Guard.

Response by LTC Daren Walker made Jan 2 at 2020 10:48 PM

LTC Daren Walker — Thu, 02 Jan 2020 22:48:39 -0500

The applicable policy is title 38 of the US Code of Federal Regulations. This .pdf does a pretty good job of explaining in layman's terms, specifically page 8 for Guard and Reserves.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42324.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwicypKFwObmAhXSqZ4KHSTiDUcQFjALegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw0rfpw0VZ1wEUtYA0P140UI

url

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 3 at 2020 5:23 AM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 05:23:10 -0500

Here is the link for the requirements for federal hiring as a vet.
The lowest level is a campaign award or a discharge; to me that means a first term Soldier who has not been activated would not get a preference but it wouldn't hurt to send in your DD214 from AIT, all they can say is "NO".
https://www.fedshirevets.gov/job-seekers/special-hiring-authorities/#content

Feds Hire Vets - Not Found

Welcome to FHV.gov

Response by CPL Gary Pifer made Jan 3 at 2020 12:30 PM

CPL Gary Pifer — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 12:30:00 -0500

As an Officer have an understanding of US code law... and how to look up said law and it's corresponding Army and or VA regs... Almost all aspects of Government function is law and is futher explained in Regulation. Thus the Major below easily knew how to look up the answer. But remember laws and regulations are always being updated.

Response by TSgt Manuel Perez made Jan 4 at 2020 2:17 PM

TSgt Manuel Perez — Sat, 04 Jan 2020 14:17:02 -0500

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42324.pdf

Check this article

R42324.pdf