Posted on 11/14/2015 7:07:58 AM PST by Oldpuppymax
This week the Senate passed the Century Veterans Benefits Delivery Act (S 1203), granting “honorary†veteran status to about 200,000 Reserve and National Guard retirees. Those particular members have not served the necessary qualifying period of active service, 24 Months, to be entitled to veteran benefits. The house will pass a similar measure, The Honor America’s Guard-Reserve Retirees Act (HR 1384), also a standalone bill to grant Reserve and Guard retirees veteran status. This will allow the weekend warriors who weren’t called to active duty to receive veteran benefits. The 200,000 who never served 24 months on active duty will be recognized for their service as veterans.
The little known 24 month clause was not well known, but imagine their surprise when retirees learned that they were not veterans according to U.S. Code: Title 38 – VETERANS’ BENEFITS. This law impacted retirees who never had a DD-214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty. Even though they fulfilled Guard or reservist requirements in various jobs or locations, they were never called to active duty. Despite all of the work these troops did to protect and serve the home front it doesn’t count as active duty service.
The bills will only bestow the right to be called a vet but it will have a few caveats. The bill recognizes the retirees as vets to honor their service but...
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...
All I know that after six years in the Marine Corps and 25 years, 9 months and 27 days in the Air National Guard, including 77 combat missions in Afghanistan, and being honorably discharged, I qualify as a veteran.
I beleive that 1 year of active duty (title 10) qualifies an individual to all legal veteran benefits including GI bill and VA home loan.
The first step to actually destroying the Veterans’ system is to dilute membership and make it meaningless. Then, when you dismantle it, no one will care. Why not make Veterans of our citizens (or any resident) who can claim membership in the militia?
Yes, you qualify!
I am a Vietnam-era veteran. Didn’t serve there. For all intents and purposes I am a Vietnam Vet. Anyone dropping off supplies in Saigon and flying out the same day is a Vietnam vet. Remember: after a ‘semester’ in Viet Nam John Kerry ‘earned 3 Purple Hearts.
I’m sorry if I’m not with the herd on this but my opinion is if you enlisted, went to basic, served your enlistment (whether Active, Guard, or Reserve) NO MATTER HOW MANY DAYS ACTIVE, you are a VETERAN!
I was Guard, then Active, then Guard, then Reserve. Every Damned one of the people I served with in every component, to me, is a Veteran. They all had the chance to be called to Active duty to defend this country. Saying they aren’t Veterans is a dis-service to the sacrifices in their personal lives that they all made to fulfil that commitment.
I should add that I don’t think they should all get VA benefits but they are still entitled be considered a “Veteran.”
Are they tinkering with that?
Do I need to start a Veterans Lives Matter movement?
My husband is!
I’m in the same boat. I flew in Saigon and out the same day. I don’t know why they came up with the term Vietnam “era” vet. WWII guys are all called WWII vets when out of all the ones I knew growing up as a child about 25% of them went overseas. But they were all WWII vets to me.
In the wake of the Kuwait invasion, President Bush signed an EO granting all Reservists having honorably served at least their initial enlistment, eligibility for VA home loans, which I quickly took advantage of having serving 8 years in the US Coast Guard Reserve.
It’s never too late to say “Thank you” to you and all others who served, regardless of what label is attached to it.
I thank you all for your service.
I signed up for the reserves after 9/11, and ended up not reenlisting for family reasons. I got an honorable discharge. I’m really glad to have done it and was proud to serve, but honestly, one weekend a month and two weeks a year under safe circumstances is just not the same as active duty.
I don’t think I should be marching in a parade next to someone who had bullets flying at them in Iraq or Vietnam. I’m proud of what I did, but there’s a difference between doing a little and doing a lot. I was paid fairly for what I did and got good benefits while I was serving. I’m not owed any more.
Not calling me a veteran doesn’t diminish my service. It just recognizes the reality that there are different levels of service.
CLICKBAIT
Little does anyone know that veteran status is pretty much up to the VA. I worked for the VA for over 30 years. Some of the things I saw there are quite unbelievable.
We had a case where a guy enlisted on the Delayed Entry Program. One day his recruiter invited him and all the other DEP guys down to the park to play softball. Our guy injured his knee, and was released from the DEP. He was not sworn in on active duty. But, the VA decided that the day that he was injured playing softball could be considered one day of Active Duty. They granted him veteran status, and granted his claim for Service Connection for his knee injury, paying him at the rate of 30 percent.
We actually had a lot of similar cases. Guys tripping getting on the plane taking them to Basic Training, injuring themselves, and being rejected for active duty upon their arrival, and sent home. They, too were considered veterans, and granted compensation without every having put on a uniform, or gotten their hair cut or anything.
“if you enlisted, went to basic, served your enlistment (whether Active, Guard, or Reserve) NO MATTER HOW MANY DAYS ACTIVE, you are a VETERAN!”
Dittos. Veteran means served in uniform. Not “I served more than you” or “my service meant more to...”
If you signed the dotted line and wore the uniform, you are a veteran. The nation could have asked you do anything it wanted once in uniform.
I spent no time in Vietnam but I still have the hat.
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