If You Served, You’re a Veteran!
Vložit
- čas přidán 30. 08. 2020
- Had a great conversation with a young man, a Veteran, who expressed his sense that he did not feel like a Veteran. He served his full, active duty Army enlistment (4 years), but never deployed overseas. Guess what? Still a Veteran!
If you swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution, signed a contract to limit your personal freedom, volunteered to submit to the Military Justice System, went where they told you to go, did what they told you to do, did it for as long as they told you to do it, and stopped when they told you to stop, you’re a Veteran!
Want to know what the VA says, look here: www.va.gov/opa/persona/index.asp
Title 38 CFR 3.1(d) of the Code of Federal Regulations defines a veteran as “a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service and who was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable.” look here (www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/...) for more definitions.
Now different VA benefits may have different qualification and eligibility requirements, regarding length of service or type of service, but that does not change your status as a Veteran.
You Swore an Oath!
Great video, so true, always be proud of belonging to such a small group, US Military Veteran!
Thank you for the video and for your service. I am a service-connected veteran of the Gulf War era. In my experience, it is mainly veterans from the Vietnam era who view anyone who didn't serve in a combat zone or weren't disabled during service as not being veterans.
This is primarily because of some people back then, mainly celebrities and children of politicians, joining the Reserves and National Guard to avoid being sent to Vietnam, or, with the help of political influence, sought out CONUS positions or positions in Germany to avoid the war. This unfortunately led many service members of that era to view negatively anyone who wasn't deployed to Vietnam, or later, deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Sadly, what has been forgotten is that it was the National Guard's 29th Infantry who were first on the beach in Normandy on D-Day and who suffered the greatest casualities there. Or that the Reserves were fully integrated into WWI, WWII, the Korean War, Persian Gulf War and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and suffered many casualties from this service.
So despite the fact that during Vietnam, some celebrities, students and politicians used certain kinds of service to shirk going to combat, most regular folks who joined did not. They were sent where the govt needed them most. Often that was stateside for training other troops, or for providing logistics. It was not their fault that they did not serve in a combat zone. But they could have been sent at any time.
This is why I think anyone who graduated boot camp and earned their MOS/AFSC/Rating etc and served honorably is deserving of respect, regardless of their deployment or disability status. Because anyone could be sent off to war the minute they graduate from basic training or their job school.
I know that not all veterans share my view, and I respect their opinion. But that is how I feel.
Cheers,
Jason
I appreciate your kind words.
@@VeteransAdviceHub You're very welcome sir. -Jason
Awesome I’m a USN Retired myself!
You are a vet when you get a DD214.
I did 2 years at Fort Hood. Place may as well have been a combat zone. I feel like such a fraud. I'm living off the VA for what happened there. The suicide attempt, the alcoholism, losing my friend. I never left the FOB, never deployed. Probably would have ate a .556 if I deployed with my unit to Europe when they did. Feel like a fraud and relapsed today. Thank you for the kind words but I don't know how someone like you *can't* hate someone like me the same way many vets who deployed did and have expressed. If you do think I'm a fraud, coward or loser I get that too. Thank you
I break things down to their basic elements. Did you take the oath? Yes. Were you "in the Military?" Yes. Did you have troubles while in - yes, it sounds like you did. So what. We all served to the best of our individual capacity. I can't make you feel one way or the other about your service, but in my book, if you took that oath and made it out of Bootcamp, Brother (or Sister), you're a veteran.
Yeah but the military says bc I choose to join the guard to protect America from invaders I'm not a veteran ...you didn't go fight someone else's war so you are less than ....I was on call 24 7 my friend went to Iraq after 911 she came back in pieces in a body bag ..it's hurtful to not be considered anything and the ARNG doesn't help with Thier moronic commercial calling it part time service....anyways that's 20yrs of frustration thanx for all you do
remember veteran status is not the same as VA benefit eligibility. For example one of the options to be eligible for (not the same as financially qualifying for) a VA home loan you just need 6 creditable years in the Selected Reserve. The devil is always in the details, research and read the eligibility requirements for any benefit you have questions on. that is always my first step.
@@VeteransAdviceHub yeah I learned that the hard way recruiting when I joined in 95 said I had 10yrs to use my GI bill I got out after 6 and a half years and when I went to the college to enroll they said I could only use it while In the national guard