Do you think someone who has never been in a combat has the right to call themselves a veteran?

I think that if you sign your name and take the oath that states you will do anything to defend the Constitution of the United States; then you are a Veteran. There is the term Veteran of Foreign War for a reason.

Yes, they are Veterans if they meet the service requirement to be called Veteran. Maybe there should be a sub-category for Veteran, like Combat Veteran or Service Veteran or both.

I'm a bit on the fence with this question, only because as I was told you choose your rate you choose your fate. I mean granite I was lucky enough to go on two deployment in my 4 years of service and It dos bother me to know someone I also served with had never stepped foot on a ship let alone to be deployed they were stateside. But as said you pick your job while in, without many of the people it wouldn't run as smoothly

Early in my military career, I was told because I was a Reservist, I wasn't a veteran because I hadn't served six months active duty time in a non-training environment. I later volunteered for a year-long ADOS tour and officially "earned" that right in the eyes of the DoD. It was billed a "domestic deployment" on a WMD Homeland Defense mission and I spent most of the year hopping between MA, NJ, TX, CT, IN & NY on one exercise or another . I'm very proud of my service to this country and the the sacrifices my family go through allowing me to pursue my dream.
My current civilian job surprised me with a plate of goodies and a card signed by everyone in the store for Veterans Day. Well... not EVERYONE. There's a 21-yr old (who belongs to the VFW Auxiliary no less) coworker that refused to sign said card because she didn't consider me a veteran. Presumably because I haven't deployed abroad. Everyone thought she was joking at first, but she steadfastly maintained her position. Of course, this got back to me in record time after the fact. Let me be quick to say I don't go out looking for handouts and freebies associated with me service, but I found this insulting. Let me also say she couldn't pass a PT test if her life depended on it...
I firmly support the proposed bill that will be heading to Congress that will make a retired reserves / guard service member that was never activated a veteran. You put in 20+ years of your life to the country on even a "part-time" basis, you've earned that right.
So, bottom line, yes. You shouldn't have to have served in a combat zone to be considered a veteran.

By virtue of the definition you are a Veteran having served. If you didn't see combat, you did your job. Nobody wanted to f#(€ with you. You are a Veteran of Foreign Wars if you served in combat.

Frankly, I think it is silly to beat your chest and think you are superior to another Veteran who didn't have the "opportunity?" to be in a command that put rounds down range. Are you to say that the Marines who sat off the coast of Iraq on ship tying up Saddams forces aren't as good as those sent in to breach the minefields? Not to take anything away from those Marines -- they did an excellent job and were also lucky that the Iraqis were not dialed in with their Arty! Most everything landed between the lanes... as if by Divine assistance!! Those crossing in the lanes can consider themselves fortunate. You beat the odds and a shell didn't fall on your head. And some of the credit goes to others, such as the pilots, who kept the Iraqis busy and focused on hiding from our weapons systems instead of spotting and walking their rounds into our lanes. FWIW

Anyway, no matter what you did or where you served... even if it was sorting mail, everyone has a job to do and it ALL goes to support the guys at the pointy end of the spear. Don't feel less.

And those of you who had a chance to go to combat, take pride in knowing you survived the test of fire, but let that humble you. Don't puff your chest out like you are special. The people that do that are generally the ones who spent most of their time spraying instead of aiming if you know what I mean.

Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines... Coast Guard, National Guard, etc. We are all on the same purple team. It's okay to poke fun so long as it is in jest and it doesn't get viscious, nasty and personal. When arrogance clouds your better judgment and makes others want to deflate that big head of yours... you need to take stock of your attitude and maybe work on your social skills.

Frankly it's a difficult situation. Of course there is the very textbook definition of a Veteran, however I go with my personal feelings in this answer. I will never call myself a Veteran until I have had one deployment. That is a personal belief that I have not done my job or done anything to deserve that title until I have gone on a deployment. Now, in defense of those who have served but have not deployed, there is always a distinction between a Veteran and a Combat Veteran. Both have served in our Armed Forces, but only once has faced a deployment and seen combat.

They are absolutely veterans you as an individual do not decide where the army or any other service chooses to send you on any given day. I have a good friend has a first lieutenant currently who has been trying to deploy for 5 years but has always miss the slot and is very frustrated he's just as much of veteran as I am

I am an Infantry Veteran. I left the Air National Guard to become an Infantryman during the build up to the Gulf War because I thought it was the right place for me to be in a defining moment of my generation. The Gulf War ended as I was finishing basic training. I went on to serve at the Infantry School, the 1/506th Infantry on the DMZ in Korea, and with 2/67 Armor in Germany. Upon completing my terms of service and returning home, I proudly assumed the title of Veteran; however, I hold combat infantryman in higher esteem than myself so I refuse to display the standard Infantry car sticker because it contains a CIB insignia and my honor does not allow me to mislead folks into assuming I earned a CIB even though many infantry related paraphernalia contained the CIB insignia along with those for the EIB, Crossed Rifles, and Blue Cord; all of which I do have.

That's a good question. I happen to fall into that category. I served in the US Air Force from 1987 to 1992. During that time there were no conflicts that I was called to answer. I did a short tour overseas around the time Desert Storm was just kicking off. I rotated back stateside to find out the government, in it's infinite wisdom, was sending National Guardsmen and Reservists to the desert and leaving the active duty folks back stateside. I can't help that I wasn't ever in combat, I did my part, I volunteered to join the service. I'm not sure what else there was to do? So based on a practicality and technical stance I say yes we are vets. I think however there should be some sort of divider for veterans and combat veterans. I have no problem giving way to my brothers and sisters who served in combat.

Don't feel guilty you are a vet. Though it was more dangerous to be training than fighting in that Desert Storm bit. LOL

Which is often the case. Even in WWII , until 1944 it was more dangerous to be in America than overseas. LOL

Besides , the whole Teeth to Tail bit has pretty much excluded 80-90%% of servicemembers to ever see or fire a shot in anger themselves , no matter the war. Even in the thick of WWII it was only 1 of 7.

Anywhoo, I never saw combat. I consider myself lucky I never had to kill some other poor fool from another country. My own opinion is that when I was in , we were just so dang bad , nobody wanted to screw with us, which explains why we won the Cold War and now got a piece of paper, still waiting on the medal. :)