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Title 38 defines a veteran as "...a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service, and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable."
There are obviously different levels in people's minds for what they consider a veteran.
Personally, I served 6 years in the National Guard with no activation and fall into that odd grey area of being honorably discharged, yet not having enough active service to really count as anything. I get tense when people thank me for serving mostly because I don't feel I did anything.
What is your own personal definition of a veteran regardless of Title 38?
Title 38 defines a veteran as "...a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service, and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable."
There are obviously different levels in people's minds for what they consider a veteran.
Personally, I served 6 years in the National Guard with no activation and fall into that odd grey area of being honorably discharged, yet not having enough active service to really count as anything. I get tense when people thank me for serving mostly because I don't feel I did anything.
What is your own personal definition of a veteran regardless of Title 38?
Sir as a retired soldier from the Army National Guard I will tell you that you are a veteran. You need not have served on active duty but you qualified for that because your 8 weeks of BCT and your time in AIT was all on active duty. They didn't give you a DD214 because you didn't get discharged from active duty but transitioned to the guard/reserve.
You should be proud of your service. You were there to answer the call should your country call upon you. You were there when the governor of your state needed to call you to state active duty. You are a veteran!
I retired as and E8/1SG so trust me I appreciate your service and you should be proud of it as well.
Sir as a retired soldier from the Army National Guard I will tell you that you are a veteran. You need not have served on active duty but you qualified for that because your 8 weeks of BCT and your time in AIT was all on active duty. They didn't give you a DD214 because you didn't get discharged from active duty but transitioned to the guard/reserve.
You should be proud of your service. You were there to answer the call should your country call upon you. You were there when the governor of your state needed to call you to state active duty. You are a veteran!
I retired as and E8/1SG so trust me I appreciate your service and you should be proud of it as well.
That is very thoughtful, 1SG. So you would consider anyone that honorably discharged to be a veteran?
That is very thoughtful, 1SG. So you would consider anyone that honorably discharged to be a veteran?
Yes and even those under other conditions as well. We do not know what drove someone to do something that would have them discharged unfavorably. They were once soldiers we cannot take that time away from them. Now would I give someone with a BCD benefits? That would depend and that is why we have a process in place to determine those benefits.
I do too...it's not like I sit and argue with people. It doesn't change that fact that I feel non-deserving slightly.
Anyway, please answer the question.
You got successfully through accession and initial training. You answered all the calls made of you.
Some guys think you have to have been a snake eater to be a real veteran.
I think you merely need to have raised your hand, sworn your oath, and successfully completed every task given to you until they told you that you were done.
I heard someone once tell my father that he wasn't a veteran because he was an officer and never went to an actual war despite serving for 20+ years during multiple times of war, etc. I've come across other people who thought you're only a veteran if you actually saw battle. I don't agree with that.
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