Should veteran status be reserved for those who have deployed?

I served 23 years, made numerous deployments on various ships. That include one to the Gulf War. I am a veteran and so is anyone that made it past the minimum time requirements regardless of where they served.

Seems like a person who signed on the line. Did Basic, required courses and got had no problems should be an eligible veteran. This whole thing about veteran vs. nonveteran is in Shakespeare's word much ado about nothing. I served in a number of theatres, a combat zone. Several non-combat zones in peace time. Finished out a number of years to retirement in the Mobilization program. Not sure what makes the difference. This is the problem no active selective service makes. People try to make on tribe above another. It is distracting and serves no purpose, except ego. That means little in life.

I thought the VA decides what constitutes veteran status after service. The contract is done once you ETS.

When we take the oath, it’s a blank check on our life. Whether or not it gets cashed isn’t up to us regardless of how we got there. Once you put on the uniform you go where they send you. If they choose to send me to nice cushy safe place and you to combat, I had nothing to do with that. If I served honorably in the job they sent me to do, that makes me a veteran when I get out. You will have medals to honor your service in combat that I wouldn’t get. That’s the only difference and should always be the only difference between us. Veterans who feel the only veteran is one who was deployed is completely ignoring the huge support staff behind those deployments. It’s absurd! I actually volunteered to go to Vietnam when I graduated from electronics school. But they sent me to a Patrol Squadron in San Diego. I flew over 1200 hrs, was in numerous incidents where we could easily have crashed and lost our lives. So I risked my life every day. Are you suggesting, that I not be considered a Veteran?

I came out of AIT and was told the unit I was going to was deploying in four months, we trained to deploy, and then our deployment got pushed back. I was transferred to another unit who needed my MOS because they were going to deploy in three months. Switch to that unit and the deployment got pushed back. Finally after a year and a half of waiting to deploy with it getting to a point where my family finally told me “when you’re getting on the plane let us know.“ Because it had been pushed back so many times , I finally deployed. Just because someone is in the military and they don’t deploy doesn’t necessarily mean it’s their fault. There were people in my unit who by the time we were ready to deploy actually had to reenlist in order to do that. Is it their fault ?

Yes! Being a veteran is a honorary status in the activity in ones career in the military.

This question comes from someone with Vacuous Cranial Cavity Syndrome. Show me in AR 601-210 where a differentiation is made. I served my first nine years as a chaplains assistant, 3 of those in a combat support unit in Germany. I certainly didn't feel like a non soldier during that time. I spent the remainder of my career in Recruiting Command, a place I will boldly state here the average soldier could not thrive or survive. I almost didn't survive, as I was in a Line of Duty life threatening car wreck that began the complete ruin of my health. My DD 214 characterizes my service as "honorable" and enumerates to the day how much time I spent on active duty. My reenlistment code is RE-4, which means I can never return to duty. I am convinced that after 20+ years, even without combat, I am a veteran. Any arguments from anyone over the age of 40?

NO! If you're a GI JOE, you're a veteran and you made some sort of contribution on behalf of your country. That makes you a UNITED STATES VETERAN

If you served in a war zone, then you are a combat veteran, but if you honorably served at least 180 days of active duty or it's equivalent or was badly injured (no fault of your own) during military training then you should be able to call yourself a veteran. I do not know what the actual regulation is anymore, but that is my opinion.

LT so what your saying is if a soldier serving in any compacity doesn't deploy to a combat zone they shouldn't be called a veteran? If that is the case then my 34 years in the USAR as a CSM are useless as t*ts on a bull. Thank God you're not in my unit as I would lock your heels up and have the CDR read you the riot act. Any soldier, sailor and marine who signed up and served is a veteran. I'm from the old school but I'll be nice LT get your head out of your mess kit.

I believe that anyone who enlists in any branch of the armed forces and serves in uniform is a veteran. Deployments, combat experience and time on active duty all have their own specific forms of recognition that the veteran can wear and/or display.

I also believe though that military awards are a bit too narrowly-defined in some cases. For example, I served 3 1/2 consecutive years of sea duty, but do not qualify for the Sea Service ribbon because that time fell across two specified periods that qualify and the middle part doesn't count. Also, even though I was on active sea duty in the Pacific during the Vietnam war, on a ship that was actively deploying to Vietnam until just before I reported aboard, there is no form of recognition whatsoever for this. I am not considered a Vietnam vet, cannot wear that ribbon or medal, and can't join the VFW - only because I was never within a specific number of feet of Vietnamese territory. There should be some kind of recognition for vets who served active duty on a vessel of war in the theater of an active war.

In addition to that, my four years of active duty ended on a weekend, so I was told by my command that I could leave after I finished duty that Friday. Then they denied me the good conduct medal because 'you didn't serve four full years'.

So don't get me started on military awards.

You joined of your own free will, volunteered to put your arse on the line in defense of this Nation. Once to sign up you are no longer in charge of where you will go or what you will do. They also served to stand and wait. You are a veteran by any definition of the word. Thank you for your service Brother of the Cloth!

Troll? Service = veteran.

I'd say yes. You served a good honorable 4 years than you are a vet. As far as deploying... heck, Although I got multiple deployments in the Iraq/Afghan category. I faced more pain and hardship during a couple of 1 month training exercises than I did my last two combat deployments in Afghanistan.

Foal Eagle (South Korea) 2003 and NTC (Fort Irwin, CA) 2014 were brutal.

Me again... entered the US Navy, I wanted to be a plumber (hopeful civilian job) They made me a radioman... Top Secret, Crypto, presidential eyes-only security clearance... Never put boots on the ground, however, several times I received screams for Medical Evacuations of our US Marines... (TET Offensive) Also requests from the 5th Mar Div... Mine was to relay support to get these guys HELP!!! Just one Hick-up in communications and many, many US Marines would have perished... It's a lot to try to deal with...American boys trying to live, trusting in me (and others) for help!!! I was also Exposed, cancers, sleep apnea, six heart attacks, kidney surgery, and lower back pains, for over a 53 Year period... I signed the line, I went and did what I was told, and PROUD of it!!! Thank You... Bless you, A Veteran...

No individual volunteer in the armed forces has a definitive say on where they will be stationed. In my career path, I was on shore duty (Navy speak) for my first seven years. Had I left the Navy at that time, would I have been a "veteran"? ABSOLUTELY! The following years of my 20 total had me overseas for almost 50% of my career - to include combat action in Iraq. Any segment of that time made me, and any other volunteer, a veteran. Salutes to all veterans.

I was drafted in 1969, I went where they sent me and served for twenty years. There were certain things we were guaranteed then and I get them all. Looking back, I wouldn't have passed up the experience for anything. I am a member of the VFW after years of receiving invitations in the mail.

ANYONE who has served IS a Veteran. Period. End of discussion.

Veteran is defined as a person who has had long experience in a particular field.
Veteran fire fighter. Veteran law enforcement, military veteran.
Here is a better question. The military falls under 2 categories; federal military service and state military service. The National Guard falls under both. State guards replace National Guard in State Active Duty when the National Guard gets called for federal active duty. Should State Guards be considered veterans?

It’s hard for me to feel any kind of way…. Although, at first, I thought this was a dumb question. Before 9/11, I was having a cold one at a VFW, It was explained to me that I already met the standards for membership with the VFW…. Something about expeditionary service…. Anyhow, here’s the way I see it: Anyone who wears the uniform, when they raised their hand, they gave our great nation a blank check. Of course, some of those people didn’t really know what they were getting themselves into, but that’s besides the point. It shouldn’t matter where or how you served. If you served, you served.

I wonder who came up with this question and if they deployed at any time.