What makes someone a "Veteran"

4,596 Views | 26 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by JABQ04
Outdoorag011
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I am not military. As a civilian I consider anyone who served in the military a veteran. I walked into a shop today and overheard 2 guys berating another man because he refers to himself as a veteran. He served in the military but never did any tours overseas. The two guys who were also military and served tours overseas told him he wasn't a veteran because he didn't do any tours. What do y'all think?
cavscout96
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AG
Anyone who served is a veteran.
CT'97
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Graduate from basic entry training is the official definition.
Eliminatus
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Yup, anyone who served. Just two ******bags if it was meant in a serious manner. Internally, there is usually some sort of pecking order of deployed vs nondeployed. But that is also a circumstance of the times as well of course. I met some infantry Marines in school that had never fired or even heard a shot in anger which blew my mind. Had to stop and realize that my wars were done and over with and the new guys that came afterwards simply had no "opportunity" to do so. While I was in though, we called new guys "boots" and a combat deployment was generally considered the point of change. It was a derogatory term but no malice behind it.

A few carried that afterwards into civilian life it looks like and nothing is more cringe than that IMO. I am biased though to some extent. I generally can't stand most of the veteran scene these days.
CenterHillAg
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I was enlisted in the Guard but never deployed, got to my unit a few months after they deployed and we never deployed again before I got out. I don't refer to myself as a veteran, check the box on paperwork, get discounts, etc. I suppose I qualify according to what CT'97 said is the definition, but I wouldn't feel comfortable.
74OA
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CenterHillAg said:

I was enlisted in the Guard but never deployed, got to my unit a few months after they deployed and we never deployed again before I got out. I don't refer to myself as a veteran, check the box on paperwork, get discounts, etc. I suppose I qualify according to what CT'97 said is the definition, but I wouldn't feel comfortable.
You wore the uniform and were willing to put yourself at risk in your country's service. You're a veteran.
BBRex
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I was a Navy Reservist for six years and sort of felt the same way you did. I embraced it more after my dad got irritated that I didn't stand when they recognized veterans during my graduation at A&M. He served 20+ in the Army, including a combat tour as a slick pilot in Vietnam, so I figured if he was okay with me being a veteran, then I was, too.
Jim Benson 63
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I was in the Marine Corps reserve from 1962 to 1968. Never went anyplace outside the United States. I became eligible for a VA loan about 10 years ago. Does this make me a"veteran?"
"You don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing."

"Wars don't determine who is right, they only determine who is left."
JABQ04
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Like other have said, if you served you are a veteran. Active, Reserve, Guard, GWOT, Cold War etc…..can't choose what's happening in the world at the time you served, but you were willing and ready to do what was needed if you were called.

OldArmyCT
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A DD-214. I served 20 years including a combat tour in SVN, have military plates on my F-150 and a retired DOD ID card with a chip in it. When I had to renew my TXDL in person they would not put a V on my TXDL because I didn't bring my 214 with me. Evidently the only way one can be a veteran in Texas is to have it annotated on their driver's license.
Jim Benson 63
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I have a Colorado driver's license that says I am a Marine Corps veteran. Do you think that Texas will accept that?
"You don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing."

"Wars don't determine who is right, they only determine who is left."
USAFAg
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Jim Benson 63 said:

I have a Colorado driver's license that says I am a Marine Corps veteran. Do you think that Texas will accept that?


https://www.va.gov/records/get-military-service-records/

I doubt it. TXDMV is populated with an inordinant number of unreasonable, unhelpful, shoe clerks. Use the link and request your DD214
Koko Chingo
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I agree with the others, you served you are a veteran.

Did it look like the two guys were berating a stranger or do you think they were together in a group?

I can only imagine what a stranger may think if they overheard some of the nonsense me and some of my veteran buddies say to each other. Depending on the moment they would think we hated each other.

In reality its just the opposite. I would have never transitioned to civilian life successfully without my other veteran friends (and we didn't meet until I got out).
whoop1995
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I agree with the poster above - depends when you walked into the conversation. Couple of people talking crap to each other in good fun can sound nasty and mean to an outsider. Everyone wants to sound like they won the war by themselves. I know I joke with my customers that are ex military as I am as well. Some of it is pretty funny and most is eye rolling.

I was a groundpounder 11bravo infantry in the army and was asked all in good fun by my marine buddy if I knew what a truck even looked like after he was joking I was so low on totem pole for recieving any transportation in my military career hence the name groundpounder. I told him no I don't as we trusted in our lpc's helping us get there. He asked what that was as he wasn't familiar and I told him our leather personnel carriers lpc and showed him my shoes.

He laughed long and hard about that one.
I collect ticket stubs! looking for a 1944 orange bowl and 1981 independence bowl ticket stub as well as Aggie vs tu stubs - 1926 and below, 1935-1937, 1939-1944, 1946-1948, 1950-1951, 1953, 1956-1957, 1959, 1960, 1963-1966, 1969-1970, 1972-1974, 1980, 1984, 1990, 2004, 2008, 2010
Texags84
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To get a veteran designation on TX dl you need dd214. I did this about 1 year ago and the first time I took copy of dl license, passport and copy of discharge certificate and they quickly turned me away. I had a very poor copy of dd214 stashed in drawer you could hardly read and they took it no questions asked.
F4GIB71
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This is a gray area. Met my wife in the ANG. She served 10 years but was Guard only. (She was in Grad school so transferred to AFR but stayed inactive.) She submitted the NG Form 22 and has Veteran designation on both the DL and her LTC. That said, she is not eligible for benefits. Specifically, we want to be buried, hopefully not too soon, at Ft Sam. I can as 22 years AD and ANG, but she cannot other than as a spouse. We plan to have her headstone with "Major USAFR". This is a frustration for me as this is a spouse headstone, not someone who served's headstone.
F4GIB71
Rabid Cougar
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Lots of veterans who never "served tours" yet were standing face to face with the enemy everyday. Sometimes much more dangerous than on huge FOBs in Iraq or Afghanistan where veterans who "served tours" Fobbets never left the wire.

Good friend who in the Army in the 1970's could have been made a HERO in the blink of an eye in such places as West Berlin, the Fulda Gap and the Korean DMZ. Same for another one who was in the Air Force stationed in Germany in Germany.

My childhood best friend and 1984 Naval Academy grad (P-3 pilot) played hide and seek with Soviet subs and Soviet fighters in the Northwest Pacific yet was never in a war zone. Those are deadly serious encounters.

All of my outfit Corps Buddies who were "O"s in the Navy from the mid '80's to just this past year (now retired two star admiral) They are all veterans yet none of them ever stopped foot in a war zone. The Arabian Gulf was just as "hot".

As a civilian, if you wear the uniform and swear to defend me, family and my country you are a Veteran.
OldArmyCT
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F4GIB71 said:

This is a gray area. Met my wife in the ANG. She served 10 years but was Guard only. (She was in Grad school so transferred to AFR but stayed inactive.) She submitted the NG Form 22 and has Veteran designation on both the DL and her LTC. That said, she is not eligible for benefits. Specifically, we want to be buried, hopefully not too soon, at Ft Sam. I can as 22 years AD and ANG, but she cannot other than as a spouse. We plan to have her headstone with "Major USAFR". This is a frustration for me as this is a spouse headstone, not someone who served's headstone.
Cremation. My wife passed 3 years ago and is in a wall of boxes and plaques at DFW National Cemetery. When I go they'll put me in with her and change the plaque. Right now if you read the plaque it reads like I'm the one inside, my name is on top but hers is underneath along with her dates and nicknames. She never served a day but was interred free, given an escort, had a space reserved for a ceremony, etc. In other words the dual-named plaque will have her rank listed.
F4GIB71
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Thanks. She can be buried as my spouse and the headstone can say whatever we want, "Loving wife and Mother." I just plan to add "Major, USAFR".
F4GIB71
Hincemm
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looking at the original context from the OP...maybe they were talking about the VFW; Veterans of Foreign Wars?

To be eligible for the VFW, you must "[Serve] in a war, campaign, or expedition on foreign soil or in hostile waters.*

I have family members - one in the Army 30+ years - who are veterans but not eligible to be in the VFW because they never went overseas. Crazy, I know.
aggiejim70
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That's my status. I could join the American Legion, but not the VFW. I spent two long lonely years keeping Oklahoma safe for democracy.
The person that is not willing to fight and die, if need be, for his country has no right to life.

James Earl Rudder '32
January 31, 1945
jbeaman88
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Non-vet here. But this thread makes me think that Texags should make a vet tag available for those members who submit a DD214, to be displayed alongside all the Ag, TMF, doctor and other tags on postings. I'll let someone more qualified decide what the symbol should be.
OldArmyCT
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jbeaman88 said:

Non-vet here. But this thread makes me think that Texags should make a vet tag available for those members who submit a DD214, to be displayed alongside all the Ag, TMF, doctor and other tags on postings. I'll let someone more qualified decide what the symbol should be.
Aggies don't lie, cheat or steal. AFS has a tag, I didn't ask for mine, they just put it on there.
cavscout96
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NM
Trinity Ag
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Once you start gatekeeping Vet status it is a never ending race.

- Active vs Guard/Reserve
- Deployed vs never deployed
- Kuwait/Qatar vs "real" deployments
- Mega-FOBs vs outposts & patrolling
- Combat Arms vs CS/CSS
- Infantry vs Armor/FA/AV
- Ranger Rgt vs Infantry
- Delta vs Ranger Rgt

There is no end of pecking orders.
Tachoro
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I am a commissioned officer and pilot in the Army National Guard With 5 years of time in service. I was on Title 32 active duty orders for 2 of those years. I appreciate the sentiment from many in here that anyone who honorably serves is a veteran. However I am NOT a veteran by the legal government definition. I am not eligible for veterans preference in federal government hiring, not eligible for many VA benefits. When applying for jobs, even though I have a DD-214 from my active duty time I cannot legally check the veteran box. My active duty time was not Title 10.
JABQ04
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I'll die on the "Kuwait is not a deployment" hill!!!!

All the infighting is ridiculous though, especially with FA being the superior branch/MOSs
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