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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Military service Purple Heart
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Responses: 358
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No disrespect intended, but this question ruffles my feathers. I served with honor, doing a non-combat job that I cannot discuss because of the high security clearance I have once held. I have earned a wartime medal for being overseas at the time of the Persian Gulf War (The NDSM), and I know for a fact, from veterans who fought in combat, that I am no less a veteran than they are.
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Personally I find the question almost insulting. There are more ways to serve. My whole family is full of veterans. Dating back to the civil war. So to ask that question. I'm thinking you may have wanted to p$&@ people off. Once you take that oath you put yourself in harms way. The Marine Corps was the best thing to happen to a little sh&t like me. There is nothing like putting your life in someone else's hands and expect them not to have butter fingers. So yes they are under any circumstance. Even if you get the BCD you still took the oath to die for your country if need be.
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Yes, however I don't think it's right that everyone who deploys is considered a combat veteran. It's a misnomer, misleading & I think it takes away from those who engage in actual combat. I thought it was a mistake when the VA told me I'm a combat vet. Even having worked checkpoint duty on the outskirts, out makes me cringe. Being in the combat zone, even doing a dangerous job there, is not the same as direct combat.
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Absolutely! First, do any of us really want to go to war? Don't we know, better than anybody, the true cost of war? Further, huge numbers of us, including almost every single one of my uncles, served in peacetime; the fact that they and those like them were there were, ready and willing to fight, is the biggest reason why they never needed to.
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The military relies on everyone - from the pencil pushers who never leave CONUS, to the lead slingers who feel they never leave the theater of war - to get the job done.
Every one of us who took the oath knew that in doing so, we could be targeted, regardless of where we filled our billet, for murder just because we wore the uniform.
Those who served during a time of no external conflict at all (something less than 50 years in our nation's history) still took the oath to die, if need be, to ensure the safety of the civilians under our care, during our watch. The only people who wore the uniform who are *not* veterans, in my book, are those who joined under false pretenses (like current gang members who are kept "clean" before they join, so that they can learn military strategies and tactics) and those who abuse the honor of the uniform they chose to wear for personal, selfish, corrupt gain. Law-breakers. Traitors. Abusers (or anyone) who use their military status to further the reach of their personal evils.
Unless you joined with the plan to quit (by whatever means) when the going got tough, and / or when you got orders to deploy - you are a veteran.
Every one of us who took the oath knew that in doing so, we could be targeted, regardless of where we filled our billet, for murder just because we wore the uniform.
Those who served during a time of no external conflict at all (something less than 50 years in our nation's history) still took the oath to die, if need be, to ensure the safety of the civilians under our care, during our watch. The only people who wore the uniform who are *not* veterans, in my book, are those who joined under false pretenses (like current gang members who are kept "clean" before they join, so that they can learn military strategies and tactics) and those who abuse the honor of the uniform they chose to wear for personal, selfish, corrupt gain. Law-breakers. Traitors. Abusers (or anyone) who use their military status to further the reach of their personal evils.
Unless you joined with the plan to quit (by whatever means) when the going got tough, and / or when you got orders to deploy - you are a veteran.
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Veterans are veterans. Are you going to tell people who served 20+ year careers during the "Cold War" where there wasn't a conflict to be deployed to that they're not veterans? Or did you just one day decide to puss off a bunch of veterans the day you posed this non question? Be proud of repairing helicopter engines in the sand because that was part of the bigger picture. That is a vital part, keeping combat aircraft fully mission capable. That would be like me saying that if you weren't airborne qualified, that you weren't a real soldier.
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Something to think about...
Not everyone was issued a rifle and ordered outside the wire to engage the enemy on his own turf. Many remained inside the wire, doing their jobs maintaining equipment, serving food, loading planes, etc....
Yet when the mortar falls inside the camp, did the people who were killed die any less honorably?
Did we all not take the same oath and write that blank check to pledge our lives in defense of our country and constitution?
We are all veterans.
Not everyone was issued a rifle and ordered outside the wire to engage the enemy on his own turf. Many remained inside the wire, doing their jobs maintaining equipment, serving food, loading planes, etc....
Yet when the mortar falls inside the camp, did the people who were killed die any less honorably?
Did we all not take the same oath and write that blank check to pledge our lives in defense of our country and constitution?
We are all veterans.
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Some who never mobilized are very self conscious about it. In some cases their jobs here in the states were deemed to be critical by the military and as a result they were not allowed to deploy. I think they have the same right to be called veteran as any other. The status veteran cannot be based on deployment alone because there are many reasons someone might not deploy, that doesn't mean they didn't serve their country.
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COL Sam Russell
Absolutely, she is a vet. Remember, there were soldiers that served entire careers retiring with over two decades of service who never deployed, 1973-2001. Of course they're vets.
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LTC (Join to see)
CPT (Join to see) true story. I know someone who the service would not let them deploy as their civilian career was too important and they deployed in that role. The sad part is the service did not allow them to transfer to another service so they could continue to serve in uniform in a non-deployable unit so they had to get out of the service.
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For administration personnel in the Marine Corps, there were two different admins: those that deploy and those that do not. In school, the instructors randomly assigned numbers with some getting the number that deployed and others the number that did not deploy. I got the one that deployed and I ended up deploying twice. I think every person that I talked to that got the number that did not deploy wanted to deploy, but they couldn't because they were non-deployable by the MOS they got. These Marines had no control over their destiny whether they deployed are not, but they all wanted to deploy. If you raise your right hand, take the oath, and fulfill the obligation of your contract honorably then you should be considered a Veteran.
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