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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Edited 10 y ago
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 368
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I will let all of you answer this while reading this response:
How many of us think this guy is a veteran and a Hero?
http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2013/11/20/u_s_in_world_war_ii_how_the_navy_broke_japanese_codes_before_midway.html
How many of us think this guy is a veteran and a Hero?
http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2013/11/20/u_s_in_world_war_ii_how_the_navy_broke_japanese_codes_before_midway.html
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I guess you don't have to WANT to be in Combat to be there. When it comes it usually means someone thought you were a soft target. If you weren't in the 101st you don't get the patch regardless. You get the patch worn by your unit. I was in a non divisional "running spare" artillery unit. We changed patches six times not including the Divisions and Brigades we were attached to.
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I will tell you what DOES suck....and maybe I'm just complaining here. Active duty vs. Reserve Component. Active duty veteran status: 90 consecutive days. (basically BCT and some change). Reserve Component veteran status: (SIX EFFING YEARS). That is assuming both use-cases in the "rear". I went to get a VA home loan in my Fifth year, 8th month. I have not deployed to a combat zone but do have overseas mission experience. I was DECLINED! That's right.....I had to wait until I hit six years to be qualified as a veteran. Whereas my little brother, was in less than a year and received his VA benefits. Now, tell me that isn't bullcrap? I mean ok, I get there is a difference between AD/RC but let's get real.
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The answer to your last question has been determined by most, if not all, state legislatures on down to their respective DMVs: to get "Veteran" put on you driver's license, you must produce a DD-214 that shows you were in the military. To get a Vietnam Veteran plate, your DD-214 must indicate you served IN Vietnam or the contiguous waters surrounding it for a consecutive 180 days.
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As, far as I know there are two kinds of Veterans, peacetime veteran, and War time Veteran, so if you served on active duty, for 180 days, or more you are a Veteran. That set your question riht.
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Would you tell the person who stood guard at the 1 K Zone, Checkpoint Charlie, or the DMZ not a veteran? They served with honor and deserve the title of Veteran. Likewise you should have no guilt wearing that honor as well. Had you not had the bird ready to go, certainly some one would of perished that is alive today.
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This is the dumbest question I've seen on here!!! US Code 38 defines a veteran as: 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. We also have veterans at their chosen profession as in veteran basketball player, veteran cop and so on.
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SFC Ernest Thurston
I totally agree. I don't know why this keeps coming up. I guess either some people just want more because they served in a combat zone or some feel insignificant because they didn't. I am a veteran. I know I'm a veteran. I voluntarily enlisted during Vietnam but didn't get sent. I served all the way up to eight days after we went into Bosnia. Every conflict in between those, Panama, Grenada, Desert Shield/Storm, Rwanda etc happened while I served. It just happens that I was mission essential in other parts of the world so I am not a "combat veteran" but I know I'm a veteran. Even though I am retired I still serve by taking other vets to the VA hospital in a van provided by the DAV also as a volunteer, the same way I started.
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All are veterans whether it be by just going into service or if it is from baptism under fire but there is one thing that separates the two, most that have actually been in deep combat wish that they could've been one of the ones that weren't. There are many friends that I used to know that never got to see home again and there are several injuries that I received that I wish I never had because of trying to deal with the nonexistent VA "healthcare" and the long battle to even get benefits.
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SFC Ernest Thurston
There are plenty of people that also get injured in non-combat situations. If I remember right we had more "accidental" injuries than "direct combat" injuries during Desert Storm.
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I generally don't stand up when asked in a crowd. I generally don't discuss what I do, or have done, in the military with anybody not affiliated with the military. It seems like the folks with all the Great War stories, usually exaggerate what they truly did.
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