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
Posted in these groups: 
Military service
Purple Heart
Military service Purple Heart
Edited 10 y ago
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 368
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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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Being a veteran has nothing to do with combat. It all starts when you voluntarily stand up and offer a blank check to America to be cashed later for the amount up to and including your life! By the very fact you were wearing a uniform meant that you were willing to be called on at a moments notice to deploy into a combat zone. Whether or not your specialty code was needed at various times and that call never came, you were willing to make it happen. You don't make that choice...it is made for you. Just because you were never in combat does not diminish the fact that you are a veteran!
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SGT Glenn E Moody
yes that is how i feel about it my self and anyone who put on any branch Military uniform is my brother or sister and a veteran as far as i am concerned
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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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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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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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Yes, of course. Veteran means you have served your nation in the armed forces. That means doing your duty (the had you are dealt) in whatever job you are assigned.... in peace or at war. It has nothing to do with combat. Combat is a entirely different issue. The Purple Heart image is not necessary, as that has nothing to do with being 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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Federal law defines a veteran as follows: The term “veteran” means a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service, and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable. Here's a link to Cornell Law site that cites US Code. A recent bill was introduced to also recognize Reserves as veterans also, something I ABSOLUTELY support. I did a year in Iraq with many Reserves, they did quality work and were exposed to the same dangers and hardships as we active bubbas. Bottom line is if you served honorably, you ARE A VETERAN and anyone who tells you otherwise, smack them in their O2 tubes. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/38/101
38 U.S. Code § 101 - Definitions
This is a list of parts within the Code of Federal Regulations for which this US Code section provides rulemaking authority.
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CDR (Join to see)
CPL Doug Hill, BS-CJ, MS-CJ - I deployed plenty of times in my 35 years including a year on the ground in Iraq 07/08. Was I actively engaged in combat i.e. did I shoot at anybody or go into the field with a combat arms element? Nope. I did receive over 1000 rounds of IDF in a little over 6 weeks, killed an Army Colonel Stephen Scott, a great American. I smoked a cigar with him one afternoon, less than 24 hours later he was dead in a rocket attack. Also convoyed from FOB Sommerall to COB Speicher down MSR Tampa many times, bad guy country with lots of IED's. I served in a combat zone, was exposed to IDF and IED's but the grunts who convoyed, fought daily and did "the heavy lifting" earned the right (and CIB's) to call themselves a combat vet. I don't know what the real definition of a "combat vet" is, I will leave that to somebody else but I am damned sure a vet.
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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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A Vietnam Veteran is a person that served in Vietnam, a Vietnam era Veteran was a person who was in the Armed Forces during that war and never served in the combat zone area at all. Veteran plates are fine but NOT Vietnam Veteran license plates unless You were physically in the actual war zone. I was in Vietnam 1968-69, I have Vietnam Veteran tabs that were issued for My Veterans plate. I was in during the Persian Gulf War but never in or even near the combat zone, I'm NOT at Veteran of that war and I feel I have no right to display a tab indicating I was.
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LTC Rodney Joye
I prefer the old terms of "Veteran" or "Combat Veteran". Then, if desired, the vet can specify VN Vet, or Korea Vet, or Gulf War Vet, etc.
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