Posted on Nov 16, 2015
Do you think someone who has never been in a combat has the right to call themselves a veteran?
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Let me apologize in advance to the people who find this question insulting... I'm just wondering what other people who served viewpoint is.
I personally went many years before I broke down and got "Desert Storm" Veteran tags, and the "Veteran" identifier on my driver's license... I'm still not entirely convinced that I deserve the 101st patch on my right sleeve, for the most part all I did was fix helicopter engines in the sand.
I have a great friend that served in the Air Force, and never left CONUS.
I have a relative that served on Aircraft carriers before Vietnam.
Both proudly stand up when "Veteran's" are asked to at public gatherings, but I always feel strange standing up.
Legal definition of "veteran" aside (someone who served at least six months and received an honorable discharge). I'm wondering more about how those of us that served feel about the term.
When a civilian hears "Veteran" I get the impression that they think we all stormed the beaches at Normandy, and for the most part I was really bored, played Spades and Tetris on my Gameboy during Desert Storm.
Should someone who was in the military during the Vietnam conflict (but never in theater) be allowed "Vietnam Veteran" license plates?
SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4", TSgt Hunter Logan , CH (MAJ) William Beaver , COL Ted Mc
I personally went many years before I broke down and got "Desert Storm" Veteran tags, and the "Veteran" identifier on my driver's license... I'm still not entirely convinced that I deserve the 101st patch on my right sleeve, for the most part all I did was fix helicopter engines in the sand.
I have a great friend that served in the Air Force, and never left CONUS.
I have a relative that served on Aircraft carriers before Vietnam.
Both proudly stand up when "Veteran's" are asked to at public gatherings, but I always feel strange standing up.
Legal definition of "veteran" aside (someone who served at least six months and received an honorable discharge). I'm wondering more about how those of us that served feel about the term.
When a civilian hears "Veteran" I get the impression that they think we all stormed the beaches at Normandy, and for the most part I was really bored, played Spades and Tetris on my Gameboy during Desert Storm.
Should someone who was in the military during the Vietnam conflict (but never in theater) be allowed "Vietnam Veteran" license plates?
SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4", TSgt Hunter Logan , CH (MAJ) William Beaver , COL Ted Mc
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Responses: 358
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I don't know the numbers, and it would take some research, but I bet the total number of personnel who have served in the military since the 1700s way out number the amount who have been in combat.
Also, do you mean engaged the enemy (directly or indirectly) or deployed in support of combat operations, regardless of actual contact?
Also, do you mean engaged the enemy (directly or indirectly) or deployed in support of combat operations, regardless of actual contact?
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Personally, if you raise your hand and swear to defend this country, and serve Honorably, you are a Veteran. Doesn't matter if you've been "deployed" or not. I've served my country for over 15yrs as an Army Reservist, never been deployed OCONUS.
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When you're in uniform, you can be called upon to go where ordered, and possibly die there in service. This fact is burned into every single person upon entering service, if they don't already know this at first. This is the very nature of the business--be ready to fight when that duty is assigned to you.
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They are absolutely Veterans. They did not choose where they served, but they chose to serve. All military service needs to be valued.
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Well, no shit. I'm a veteran and never went to combat. What a stupid question
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Absolutely. Everyone who takes their oath and serves their enlistment (or commission) is a veteran. Some go into combat, others don't. I spent my deployment on a base that was constantly getting mortared, but I never had so much as a bullet in my magazine. So I'm not a vet because I was never in a firefight or wounded?
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We're our own worst enemies on this issue.
There isn't some form of Veteran that is more "special" than some of other form of Veteran. The idea of "Caveats" for Veterans is "bean counting." It's done by Administrators, like the Department of Veterans ADMINISTRATION.
It makes it easier for them to turn us into numbers, or beans, than into living breathing (we the) People.
Each of us, as Individuals, swore an Oath. Wrote a blank check. We didn't know the value of that Oath or that Check when we did it. The guys in Beirut, aboard the Cole, in the Embassies, SSgt Stone. They weren't expecting anything to go down on THAT particular day. But "that day" happened. Are they any less Veterans because "Combat happened to them" rather than they "participated in combat" which is some Statutory BS regulation?
You raise your hand. You volunteer. You serve to the best of your ability. Sometimes you fall. Hopefully you get up. That's what makes you a Vet. Not because some knucklehead chose "that day" to take a pop shot at you in particular.
There isn't some form of Veteran that is more "special" than some of other form of Veteran. The idea of "Caveats" for Veterans is "bean counting." It's done by Administrators, like the Department of Veterans ADMINISTRATION.
It makes it easier for them to turn us into numbers, or beans, than into living breathing (we the) People.
Each of us, as Individuals, swore an Oath. Wrote a blank check. We didn't know the value of that Oath or that Check when we did it. The guys in Beirut, aboard the Cole, in the Embassies, SSgt Stone. They weren't expecting anything to go down on THAT particular day. But "that day" happened. Are they any less Veterans because "Combat happened to them" rather than they "participated in combat" which is some Statutory BS regulation?
You raise your hand. You volunteer. You serve to the best of your ability. Sometimes you fall. Hopefully you get up. That's what makes you a Vet. Not because some knucklehead chose "that day" to take a pop shot at you in particular.
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