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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Of course we do. As long as you serve for a consecutive 180 days and discharged honorably is a veteran....just because you didn't go to war....didn't see combat doesn't make you any less of a Veteran than those who saw combat.
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I've always had a simple answer to this question: Those combat veterans only got to be in combat because someone who didn't serve in theater brought them there.
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I was a dumb ass and miss read the question and voted wrong. Hell yeah you're a Veteran as long as you signed that paper, raised your hand and served honorably. It doesn't matter where you were or what you did.
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I feel if you were in the service for any reason and is not your fault for leaving and you passed all your testes and finished basic training should have the right to receive a Honorable with good conduct and should be consider a Veteran.
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Yes. Most people who have been sent to combat did not send themselves, but they did either volunteer for service or answer the call when their country called on them to serve. So, serving honorably is earning the status of veteran. I do think that we should also hold the status of Combat Veteran as something above and beyond the status of Veteran - so, yes, a person who has not been to combat is a veteran, but they are not a combat veteran.
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I think that you are a veteran when you serve. We all have made sacrifices to keep our country safe. As for stickers license and ect.. you should be proud of your service and show it. As for being Vietnam Vet I know its a big controversy with my friends I think to claim being a Vietnam Vet, Desert Storm Vet or anyother conflict you can only claim it only if you were in country. I know now I have seen Vietnam era covers being worn now. But you dont see WWll or Korean era covers I believe that if you werent in actual country you should wear a regular Veteran cover. My friends who were in Vietnam feel that era.. covers makes light of their service and gives ppl the wrong impression. So bottom line is if you actually served in country then you are a Veteran of that conflict if you didnt then your just a Veteran. SEMPER FI
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That's question just fires me up and makes my blood boil. I am 62 and proudly served from 18 June 79 till 14 Sept 84. For years I have refused to use my benefits because I felt that combat vets deserved it more than myself. I quit going to veteran organizations because i didn't feel worthy surrounded by combat vets. But you know what I was there I was ready and able to put my life on the line like so many others have. By the grace of God there wasn't a war going on and I never got the call to go. But I was just as proud of the units I served in as a combat veteran. We volunteered we trained we prepared we we're ready so I tell you the answer to your question is affirmative we are vets and we deserve that right to be called vets.
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I served 13 years in the ARMY National Guard Military Police and I AM A VETERAN AND NO ONE WILL CONVINCE ME DIFFERENT SO WHAT IF I NEVER SAW COMBAT OR HAVE A PURPLE HEART I STILL SERVED MY COMMUNITY,STATE, AND NATION AND IF CALLED UPON WHICH I WAS THEN TOLD TO STAND DOWN WITHIN A WEEK OF SHIPPING OUT TO GRENADA I WOULD HAVE PROUDLY AND FAITHFULLY GONE AND SERVED MY COUNTRY IN BATTLE HOW DARE YOU INSINUATE I AM ANY LESS OF A VETERAN OR NOT A VETERAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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No issued with me, I signed the line, raised my right hand, even the state I live see's me as a veteran(24 yrs in MIARNG).
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SSG Thomas Barry
The biggest problem is between combat vets and non' combat vets i feel they don't really accept or respect maybe not out right but outs there
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SGT (Join to see)
SGT Rick Colburn - I agree. I was hoping the simple, yet ridiculously sarcastic nature of the question would be obvious.
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