Mayor Adler says Confederate soldiers are not U.S. veterans. Is that true?

What angers me the most about this headline is that it’s what led the news in Austin on the Veterans Day Parade and in photos!

I have attached several photos from the parade including the Association of 3rd Armored Division members that participated in it and the wreath ceremony but were not mentioned in the news anywhere! We had men and women in historical military vehicles that had served from Viet Nam to the Gulf War and beyond, all the papers seemed to care about was the ridiculous stance of their mayor!

I believe that keeping our history alive is a very important part of being American! We can’t just remove statues and rename parks, streets and schools because they were named after Confederates. Imagine 200 years from now if society decided that anything named after a veteran from Iraq or Afghanistan had to be changed because it was an offensive period in our American History?

SFC Cesar Valdez Jr,SGT Kirk Smith,SPC Leni D. Anderson, M.L.I.S., B.A. ArtH, A.A.,SSG Jeremy Sharp,COL Mikel J. Burroughs,Steve Durgin,SFC (Join to see),CPL Crystal Pettway, MBA,SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4",Capt Christian D. Orr,SPC Woody Bullard,SFC Wade W.,SFC Stephen Hester LTC Stephen F.,LTC Wayne Dandridge SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth,SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT,SGT Francis Wright

Many Confederate soldiers served as US Army soldiers in the Indian Wars and some served in the Mexican American war of 1846 Capt Tom Brown. Those soldiers certainly should be considered veterans of military service.
I would consider any Confederate soldier to be a veteran. the only ones I would excluded would be the border ruffians such as Quantrill's thugs.
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs Capt Christopher Mueller Maj Marty Hogan LTC Orlando Illi MSgt Robert C Aldi Capt Jeff S. CPT Jack Durish SFC Stephen King LTC Stephen C. LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. SGT Gregory Lawritson Cpl Craig Marton Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Capt Seid Waddell MSgt Danny Hope LTC (Join to see)

In reviewing the other comments, I believe Terminology is important. Other than as a "colloquial," we no not have American citizenship. We are citizens of the United States of America. We are one country on the North American Continent as are other countries. I understand that we as a people have adopted the term of being 'Americans' as a shortcut. I swore to defend the Constitution of the United States of America. My passport says United States of America, etc.

Regarding the Civil War, we tend to focus mostly on the states that withdrew from the union. But as for the war, there were people from the south that fought for the north and there definitely were people from the north thant forught for the south. In northwest Illinois, not far from the Wisconsin border, is the city of Galena, near the Mississippi River, which was the former home of General Grant before he was recalled to service in the Civiil War. In fact, the city was also the home of eight other Civil War generals.

Grant was married to Julia Boggs Dent who was born at White Haven plantation west of St. Louis, Missouri. Her parents were Frederick and Ellen Wrenshaw Dent, a slaveholding planter and merchant. Frederick owned about thirty enslaved African-Americans and refused to consider freeing them on moral ground, doing so only when compelled by law of emancipation. She was distantly related to Confederate general James Longstreet.

Galena was one of the largest cities in Illinois at that time, somereports claim it was the largest. It's critical business was mining lead. The lead miners were predominately imported Irish immigrants and slaves. Yes slaves as far north as Galena, IL The Civil War left the male population in Galena decimated as the men fought on both sides of the "civil war." To learn more Google: Galena & the Civil War. They even have a Confederate cemetary.