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?
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.
Are they tinkering with that?
Do I need to start a Veterans Lives Matter movement?
My husband is!
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.
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.
I always look at it like this.
If you went and completed basic training, served your term (no matter how long/short it was) and were honorably discharged...
You are a veteran.
Now - I know of know term SHORTER than 24 months...
I politely but firmly disagree. Not all who wore a uniform should be considered the same as those who served on AD and in harms way.
Don’t get me wrong, I respect all who served in all capacities- the spear has a long many faceted handle and a wide point that requires many to make it work.
Stratification based on status IS a reasonable method of providing recognition and benefits. Many who spent years or even decades in the reserve components got paid ofr their service via base pay, education, etc whether or not they were deployed in harm’s way. Those who spent even just a few years on AD, again in harms way or not, had a different quality of sacrifice.
, and along with that a different method of recogniction/remuneration for that risk.
As a guy that spent 23 + years on AD, seven combat deployments and untold dozens of other type depolyments, I think I have the crendentials to make a statement.
Sure, I served with RC folks who came and went in some of the same “exercises, all on ADT, not AD. They may or may not have served for the requisite time to be granted full “veteran” status, but that was and is up to them in some degree. Having served in RC units ( as and AD officer) I can attest that RC folks are some of the best we have in uniform- and I vigorously encouraged those that stood out to me to cosdier AD-some did, some did not, some came from AD and had no desire to return due to other pursuits, family, career etc- good on them.
On the other hand, I saw many who were happy to transfer to other units of lessor priority when things heated up, one major in particular stood out- he swapped to a non FSP unit when 9/11 occurred- he vociferously advised his cronies to do the same -to avoid having to “do it for real”. I really wanted to kick the crap out of him, but being the professional I was, I simply let him take those who would not be of real value to other units, the unit I was in deployed to IRQ in 2005 and did well-w/o those malingering turds that liked the extra man-days and UTAs that a FSP1A unit was programmed for.
Like everything else in life, there is stratification and that is good. This flood gate change is not a good thing for our veterans.
Best’
Hope you enjoy this tongue in cheek article on this subject:
Here’s the actual section: Looks like it’s specific to those entering service after September 7, 1980. Note (b)(1)(B) as what appears to be a loophole to the 24 months.(Course, reading further made my head explode)
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/38/5303A