Should veteran status be reserved for those who have deployed?

It doesn't matter whether a person thinks or another thinks they shouldn't claim Veterans status. What matters is what the current regulation regarding veteran status is at the time of question. Last time I checked, time in service is the primary denominator.

No.

1LT(P) (Join to see) I volunteered for 5 separate deployments and NEVER went anywhere. That does NOT make me any less a veteran than anyone else. I think a better way to look at it is for critical missions, who has combat experience under their belt.

After my last volunteer effort fell through, I just didn't see any point in continuing to volunteer and got out. I wanted the experience and never got it. I don't regret not going, I just look at it as it wasn't in God's plan for me.

If you took the oath, served your time, and were discharged honorably then you are a veteran. I would just suggest that you don't claim to be a combat veteran, there are enough people out there doing that already right up until they are asked to show their DD214 which they can never seem to find.

If you joined as a volunteer into the military - you are a veteran. Now other like minded veterans can heckle and jeer you, all in good taste I will add, but at the end of the day that was a fellow brother or sister who would stand beside you regardless of the circumstances.

A Vet is a Vet; I retired from the Navy as an Aviator: Cold War deployments, NAS, Bosnia, Somalia and Iraq. The most dangerous tour I had was in the Training Command; we had more fatalities in the TRACOM than the fleet first week of the 91 war.

Who is going to tell those young men's (or women's) parents that they were not real Vets because when they paid the ultimate price they were in the wrong time zone?

And define Deployment; in the Navy back in my day almost everyone "deployed"; a deployment didn't mean combat. On my first cruise (deployment) we lost four squadron mates. Does that count? The air wing lost seven. And a good friend of mine was killed in Cubi Point; shore based. Do they all count as Vets? None were considered combat deployments at the time.

I have two sons who served; one was with the 10th Mountain in the Sunni Triangle: CIB/Purple Heart. My second son was with MOANG as a Crew Chief on B-2. I'm proud of both of my Veteran Sons.

A military veteran is Any person who served for Any length of time in Any military service branch. (Which is really unfortunate.... because even under honorable discharges could legally call themselves veterans)

However, combat veteran as defined is anyone in a military component who experiences any level of hostility for any duration resulting from offensive, defensive or friendly fire military action involving a real or perceived enemy in any foreign theater.

We could go as far as to debate what we believe should be considered veteran status: Such as Time in Service, Rank, Units served in, and Deployments completed. Simple fact is, even a 2 year SPC4 can get out and call themselves a vet.

A whole different debate would be do we consider medical discharges as retirees or in terms of being a medically retired service-member. My personal opinion is if you really appreciate the military then those who get medically separated (honorably) should not consider themselves retirees. That is traditionally for those who have served over 20 years.

No; all that serve and meet the current definition should be called Vetrians. They have earned that. If the discussion shifts a bit to say; should Combat Vets be given extra perks over those given to all Vetrians, I would reply yes. They have given a bit more and acknowledging that outside / after leaving the military is token of appreciation,

I struggle to see the benefit of limiting the criteria of the term "veteran" further than it is.

A Veteran is any man or woman that has signed the dotted line, volunteering their life, if necessary, to defend the US, and our interests. Serving the requesite time (honorably) until discharge makes one a VETERAN, regardless of deployment history.

As soon as you swore the oath, you became a veteran. Just because you were not activated doesn't mean you won't be in another conflict.

No a vet is someone who starved.

Hey brother, there was no real final question to the whole point of your post. We all know that deployments are part of any facet of the military any one of over 150 ( MOSs ) in “ active duty combat deployment such as desert storm where the whole thing started in the Middle East with Al queda taliban leading to 9/11. I know the whole story, TSC ok, to civilians! My opinion is thank you for your partial service, a weekend warrior. No offense, myself as an active duty combat engineer 12B 91-96 Gulf War era and Kosovo combat deployments.
With all due respect as just only my opinion sir, if you had at least 1 combat deployment during your time in the reserves which it sounds like you do. Brother, the word reserve is only a partial soldier to me. Maybe not one of the ones that dug deep and dug it out for America. That means full time and living in the barracks and running every morning at Custer Hill , Ft Riley Kansas, the home of the legendary 1st infantry Division as the wind cuts through you coming across Canada into the Bible Belt. As a reserve soldier you just never see it all. Have you ever trained at Grafenveir Germany? You haven’t seen the big picture, I wish you did trooper ✝️

I served in the Air Force during the Cold War.
I served as Security Police.
I took my job very seriously, to make sure that my bomber (loaded with nuclear weapons) was safe and ready to fly at any moment.
No, I wasn’t deployed to any war zone but if any one thinks that what I did was not important to the safety of my country, they are wrong!
I am proud of my service and I am very grateful for those that came before and after me that were deployed to a war zone.
I am also very proud of my veteran status

This has got to be one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. It rates right up there with, " real men can give birth".
The very idea that this is even debated among those still in service infuriates me and greatly reduces both my trust in both people and the status of of our current armed services to defend America. Sounds a great deal like a bunch of entitled bitches bickering about who's more special.

Not participating in actual combat may limit some to not being a "combat veteran" but they are still Veterans.

Dumbest question of the day!

It is a dumb question. Period.

Damn right you can! Anyone that stood up, raised their right hand and offered up their life for this country, served honorably! The problem arises with individuals that did NOT serve, but strut around wearing surplus clothing "They Bought" and announce to any and everyone what a bad ass they were. I have a short fuse for these vermin. Have called a number of them out at Veteran functions or insisted they were combat Vets to get free drinks or Veterans discounts. I don't claim to be a vigilante poser exposer but I have had enough times to claim it. There are a number of TRUE VETS that don't realize they don't have to make things up. I'm a two tour combat vet from the Nam. 82nd and the 25th. I would never disrespect another Vet for not going down range!. I've talked with Nam Vets that don't see them selves worthy of Combat status because they didn't go outside the wire or only ran logistic supplies. They can't understand they stood the chance of being ambushed outside the wire bringing us the stuff to fight with or eat or medical things. Plus Beer, a definite staple of the Grunt end of the chain.!! The very same thing I have heard from the Sand Box boys. Don't you ever belittle yourself for what you did or where the service needed you. You did the DAMN job...that is what its all about! And I thank you for your service.............

You SHOULD be and it should be automatic. You have no choice if you deploy or not. Some people serve in MOSs that do not deploy.
I served 20years and the closest to deployingcI got was 4years in Germany and one year in Korea. My whole career I had either just PCS'd from a unit that was preparing to deploy or arriving at a unit that just returned from deployment.

Anyone who has served honorably for at least the regulation prescribed time is a veteran. There are even those whose service was not honorable who are still deemed veterans.