An old friend who served in the USN in the 80s was telling me about drinking at the VFW and I asked if he was considered a veteran of a foreign war. He said ‘yup, my ship was sent to Beirut after the bombed our base there’. Learned something new about the VFW eligibility process. And it makes perfect sense. Looking back now it can be seen as an isolated event. But in the moment, at the height of the cold war, it was a different story.
I did a Med cruise on the Nimitz in the 80’s and received the Navy Expeditionary Forces medal which qualifies for VFW membership. One night our A-6’s were loaded to bomb the runway of the Beirut airport but final permission never came. This was related to the airline hijacking.