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 served for 8 years on Active Duty. I might not have gone to FOB locations. But I have sent Bombers and Fighter's to countries that were in conflict. I also have supported OEF, loading weapons on aircrafts. It might have been my jet that did a CAS while the ground troops were pinned down. I might not be a Combat Veteran but I am a Veteran and earned that title. That's why there's a Combat Veteran and a Veteran.
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Anyone that has served honorably is a veteran. Everyone in the military has an important job to do no matter what it is. I do not understand why anyone would think that you have to be in a combat theater to be called a veteran.
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Absolutely! By definition, a veteran is a person who has had long experience in a particular field OR a person who has served in the military. It's about selfless service to your country... We all serve knowing that we may be called to war and that we may lose our life. Regardless if one has been in combat or not, if you've raised your right hand and took that oath "... to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic...", then you've EARNED that right. My 2 cents, for what it's worth.
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SGT Leigh Barton
A "Veteran" is one that has sacrificed their OWN freedom for some period of time and served the greater needs of this country. The OATH can't be taken back, the job can't be quit, and the freedom that was sacrificed can NEVER be replaced. AND WE ALL PULL A TRIGGER FOR A LIVING. Anything beyond that is just extra duty. This isn't a bank or a grocery store. It's the real world, one that can get very unpleasant. And sacrificing your own freedom is only the beginning of the sacrifices you may be asked to make. Months or years away from home, being assigned "extra duty" that is totally repulsive, the medical corps in my case. There is no standing down, just step up, do your best, and keep at it until something takes you out.
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If they served their country whether in peacetime or wartime, they are all Veterans. Not everyone is in a combat unit, sees combat or serves in a designated war or combat zone. I was deployed to Operation Desert Storm also and got as far as the U.A.E. We sailed into the Persian Gulf and negotiated a suspected minefield. We also worked on two Navy ships that hit mines in the Gulf. We could have done the same. I repaired surface ships and submarines for my entire 16 year career. Two of those submarines launched cruise missiles on Bagdad. We worked our asses off getting theses submarines ready for their deployments and they wouldn't have made their deployments with the support our ship and crew provided. As I said earlier, some people don't get combat experience. We did however loose one shipmate during our time in the U.A.E. Do you think DC3 Hollifield doesn't deserve to be identified as a "Veteran" because he wasn't killed or wounded in combat, but in a tragic swimming accident by a riptide? He was counted among the "dead" from Desert Storm and he will forever be that young sailor and deserves to be identified as a "Veteran".
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As one of those that came home with an enemy marksmanship badge I believe that anyone who has served and separated with an honorable discharge have earned the title of veteran. I have a close friend who shattered his ankle during a training cycle before deploying. He wanted to deploy and would have served the Marines with honor in combat. The fact that he was injured doesn't change his status in my eyes at the very least.
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A "Veteran" is one that has sacrificed their OWN freedom for some period of time and served the greater needs of this country. The OATH can't be taken back, the job can't be quit, and the freedom that was sacrificed can NEVER be replaced. AND WE ALL PULL A TRIGGER FOR A LIVING. Anything beyond that is just extra duty.
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You can only control certain things in life. One of the things you can't control is when and where wars break out and whether or not you get called to go. By making the decision to do your time on the wall you are a veteran. You can't control whether or not someone shoots at you while you're standing on said wall. But had no one been on the wall during the peaceful times, you can bet your bottom dollar our enemies would've taken advantage of that situation.
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Why does everyone automatically think that "combat" involves the "front lines"?
You want a "fire threat"? I lived every day under the threat of waking up / walking around / looking out a window and seeing a warhead falling from the sky that would wind up saying "you've been nuked". Not just "in a strike zone", I mean close enough to read the writing on said warhead before it goes boom.
You want "casualties"? The slightest slip up of my mouth to / near the wrong person could have cost us any number of people's lives as the enemy would know more than they needed to, like how to beat us.
You want to know my "weapon"? It was the computer I used to do my job on.
And no, I wasn't in "Cyber warfare", I was in before it was really it's own division, at the time of my service Cyber was handled by Satellite Command...
Ah, the joys of being a computer programmer on an R&D base. While I never actually picked up or rode in an M-whatever, flew an A-, F- or B-something, etc. etc. - basically be in a position where I had to apply a painful device to someone else, saying that I didn't "fight" for my country is... interesting... to say the least.
And that chef that made sure we were all fed? Were we not HIS (or HER) weapon?
You want a "fire threat"? I lived every day under the threat of waking up / walking around / looking out a window and seeing a warhead falling from the sky that would wind up saying "you've been nuked". Not just "in a strike zone", I mean close enough to read the writing on said warhead before it goes boom.
You want "casualties"? The slightest slip up of my mouth to / near the wrong person could have cost us any number of people's lives as the enemy would know more than they needed to, like how to beat us.
You want to know my "weapon"? It was the computer I used to do my job on.
And no, I wasn't in "Cyber warfare", I was in before it was really it's own division, at the time of my service Cyber was handled by Satellite Command...
Ah, the joys of being a computer programmer on an R&D base. While I never actually picked up or rode in an M-whatever, flew an A-, F- or B-something, etc. etc. - basically be in a position where I had to apply a painful device to someone else, saying that I didn't "fight" for my country is... interesting... to say the least.
And that chef that made sure we were all fed? Were we not HIS (or HER) weapon?
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I look at it as two-fold, you have Veteran and Combat Veteran. Due to my specialty in the service I wasn't chosen to deploy, I volunteered on 3 different occasions and was turned down every time. Am I a Veteran yes, combat Veteran no. That's how you can distinguish between the two. I had a CSM tell me after the second time trying to deploy say, SFC if the Army wanted you they know where to find you and know your skills, your abviously good at what you do, do your job and be proud of what you do. Did it burn at my soul that I didn't deploy, definitely, but you can only do what you can do. Do I stand when I'm somewhere they ask Vets to stand, yes, and proudly do so.
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Everybody who serves in the military serves at the pleasure of the DoD SPC David Hannaman. We generally had no choice where we were assigned [certainly we had dream sheets where we listed our priorities o assignment :-).
Everybody who has served honorably in the uniform of one of the military service is entitled to consider themselves a veteran.
Everybody who has served honorably in the uniform of one of the military service is entitled to consider themselves a veteran.
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