What Makes Someone a Veteran?

[Khornet]

What Boats said

service at sea in the Navy is one dangerous job, shooting or no. And there will be times when everyone can stay nice and snug inside the hull while only one person--the Doc--has to go out in the stuff and risk his neck to help someone. I know THIS Navy Doc is lucky to be alive after a little session in a storm in Onslow Bay in '86.

Military Docs and Nurses are veterans in my book, whatever the rules say, and I bet most folks here agree.

 

[noklue3]

A Veteran:

Is any person that served in the US ARMED FORCES at ANYTIME in ANY capacity, combat or not.
The stipulations such as "180 days" "CIB" etc are qualifing points for different organizations and or programs.

All the best,

Art
Past Commander- American Legion
Post 52, Bellaire, Ohio

 

[schromf]

Yes, C. Everett Koop, M.D, brain fart on my part. Just a interesting side note look at the bio on the current Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona. Enlisted special forces in Vietnam, high school drop out, this is a guy who worked hard to to where he is today, gotta respepect him for that.

 

[schromf]

Duplicate post.

 

[Byron]

Military Nurses have served beyond question.They are Vets.I was in the hospital in Nam,69.I could not write enough good about Army Nurses. They did the impossible and kept going.Yet, when I was released from the hospital and put on my boonie hat, she broke down crying as she knew to what I was to go back to.
Army Medics, we did not have enough. They hold the Combat Medic Badge
and are heroes. I have seen them putting their life at risk trying to save a dying man. Our platoon mdic was a conscientous objector but he saw his duty and was in the middle of it. He patched me up.
Vets,I am not sure what the legal definition is, but a man or woman who has worn my Nations uniform is a vet in my book.The nam years were difficult years.
I was awarded a CIB. It means something far deeper than I can write.That does not take away a grunts respect for the other combat branches or even REMF's. It was REMF doing his duty that made sure I got home.REMF's were called on to fill combat units when things got bad with casualties. I know a REMF postman who was given a rifle and sent to an infantry company as we needed men. He was shot up bad.
I will not let a man or woman in uniform today go by without Thanking them. That includes the ones just out of basic. They are not hard to spot. My day was different and that must not happen again. Vets-God Love Them. Byron 11B 68-69

 

[enfield]

I am a veteran. A 'small v' veteran. Since I served in the Reserves from 1971-76, I receive no benefits of any kind. Didn't ask for any.

 

[RWK]

Previous posters have nailed this quite well. The 180 day “honorable service†rule -- which includes, but is not limited to, an Honorable Discharge -- generally applies. However, if an active duty service member is injured before the 180 day period, he will receive ALL the benefits of a longer-service veteran. For example, Seaman Recruit Jones falls in the shower while at Boot Camp and becomes paralyzed from the waist down; he would be eligible for the same benefits as any other “in the line of duty†veteran with a similar injury/disability.

 

[cdbeaver]

The CIB is a very special decoration awarded to Infantry soldiers who have performed their duties satisfactorily during actual combat. Only in very rare instances is the badge awarded to non-infantry personnel, and that is generally in cases where some one not actually assigned to an Infantry unit does something extraordinary in conjunction with an Infantry operation.

The above says nothing to detract from other veterans who have performed admirably or satisfactorily under actual combat conditions. Army combat engineers, nurses, medics, artillerymen, etc., are denied the CIB merely because the badge is strictly an Infantry award. It was first issued during WWII.

Every infantry soldier who wears the CIB knows that others have done their duty in combat; it's a shame there is no badge to honor those who do not wear the Infantry blue.

 

[entropy]

Def: Veteran

VA defines a veteran as one who has completed 180 days of consecutive
Federal military service. This can be active or as has become more common these days, Reserves or NG called up (and Federalized, for NG) and completing 180 days continuous Federal military service. I came across this definition while fighting the VA for college money I subsequently never used.:banghead:

 

[wingnutx]

A veteran is someone that has completed their obligatory military service. Combat or not.

Yup. I have some interesting scars from my non-combat job in the Navy

 

[EOD Guy]

The PHS is comprised entirely of officers such as MD's and RN's. They are a fairly small uniformed service and one of their big areas is Indian Affairs. They provide medical care on indian reservations as well as other areas, usually in the areas of public health. As a lot of vets can call themselves that because of nurses and medics, I think they (we) deserve the title as well.

There are thousands of employees of the Public Health Service that do not qualify as part of the uniform services. I believe the commissioned corps of the PHS is the only part that qualifies.

 

[RWK]

EOD Guy is correct . . .

The Uniformed Services include:
> Army
> Navy
> Marine Corps
> Air Force
> Coast Guard
> The commissioned corps of the US Public Health Service
> The commissioned corps of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
ALL of the above are entitled to Veterans benefits.

The Armed Forces include only:
> Army
> Navy
> Marine Corps
> Air Force
> Coast Guard
Not the PHS or NOAA commissioned corps.

 

[AirForceShooter]

you took the oath.
You put on the uniform.
You were ready to do as ordered.

Congratulations your a VET.

AFS

 

[frenchwrench]

My mother served as a W.A.S.P for two years durring WWII.She wasn't granted veterans benefits until 28 years after she died.But the VA buried her in the Vets cemetery in Fort Hood.She had more flight time then my father who flew 49 missions in B-26s.Both Vets,regardless.

 

[atomchaser]

The PHS is comprised entirely of officers such as MD's and RN's. They are a fairly small uniformed service and one of their big areas is Indian Affairs. They provide medical care on indian reservations as well as other areas, usually in the areas of public health. As a lot of vets can call themselves that because of nurses and medics, I think they (we) deserve the title as well.


Chris

The public health service has other medically related career fields as well: public health, biomed engineers, environmental engineers, health physics, etc. They generally work a narrow range of jobs and locations primarily like CDC, NIOSH, EPA, etc. I've know a few Air Force folks who have transferred over because of the greater stability in assignments and faster and easier promotions. Same pay scale and 20 year retirement.

 

[dm1333]

PHS doctors also serve as flight surgeons and medical officers in the Coast Guard, wear the Coast Guard uniform and have the same obligations as any other Coast Guardsman. If the Commandant says go over seas to fight, they go. If they don't go they get held accountable just like the rest of us.

Don