Questions That Don’t Get Asked Enough: Who Is A Veteran?
This post just might get me dumped at TAH? Paranoia strikes deep?
We have two formal institutions in this country that deal with Vets. The DVA and those programs for our retired military.
Each involves a set of bureaucrats, and yet they each stumble rather a lot. Anyone Surprised? Jonn has an agenda that may not survive. The noise about trimming Tricare is only temporarily abated.
Here’s the thing… Who in DC has the nerve to meld the two?
If our President, who never served in any military capacity gets re-elected what will get cut? This question is not the ravings of some crazy. President Obama’s second term is generating some non-trivial questions, not the least of which has to do with us? A second term means HE will decide…
Gonna refer back to a post I offered on the broader issue. Can’t leave Russ out either. Some vets are proactive.
Still… Do YOU want a voice? SOS is offering one.
Category: Geezer Alert!, Politics
Zero,
There are layers of choices.
The first layer is ensuring your vote counts. Monitoring the voting place, voting for folks who will ensure an honest election. George Soros’s Secretary of State project has yielded excellent results.
The second layer is to vote, and encourage your friends and family who’ve cynically checked out of society. Drive ’em to the polling station.
The third layer is to monetarily support an SOB who’ll kick a Dem or Republican in the nuts. Well, that’s not really a layer so much as a personal preference. A Republican is just a Democrat against abortion. No other real, discernable difference.
The third layer is to recruit the next generation. Learn Bellavia’s lessons, and find the young vets and steer ’em into public life.
Who is a Veteran? Well that depends on the agency and the adjectives used.
By many official standards, a Veteran is someone who served 180 consecutive days, successfully.
An Honorably discharged Veteran is someone who served his initial contract, successfullly.
A Combat Veteran, by official standards, is someone who served 30 consecutive days in a combat zone.
A Combat Veteran, by Warrior standards, is someone that closed with and destroyed the enemy. (i.e. served not only in a combat zone, but also on the two-way range.)
And then there are retirees, who dedicated 20 years of their life to the suck, some without ever hearing an incoming round, and some having multiple “tours” of combat duty. (and doing it as a Private is different than returning in charge of Privates).
Retirees have usually beaten their bodies silly, ignoring its calls for a visit to the Doc, with sufficient quantity, that their bodies demand respite.
And there are also the Medically Retired, who have suffered such a traumatic medical event, usually in combat, that even the Military realized they couldn’t be forced to withstand the daily grind for the rest of their 20 years.
And there are the Combat Wounded Veterans, those that gave blood on the battlefield, but often were able to “Soldier on,” at least until the end of their contracts.
Who is a Veteran? Most that have worn the uniform, but their experiences and what we owe them are not equal. That is not an indictment of what they did, but what they suffered to do so.
WOTN #2: Most that have worn the uniform, but their experiences and what we owe them are not equal.
Ain’t buying it directly. My question was pretty simple. Who decides?
Who decides, more often than not, is the guy appointing those who write the definitions. Theoretically, the Congress must advise and consent, but how often does Congress do anything other than rubber stamp the appointments? Then those appointees appoint their best buds, who will follow their commands, and so on down the line.
The voters decide who makes the appointments. Well, actually the electors decide. But it also behooves us to elect some folks to Congress who can ask intellegent, cogent questions of and about the appointments made, then approve only those who are capable of defining such things as “veteran” sensibly.
That is a hard call to make and a lot of times it is based on perception. Civilians and people who didn’t serve in an area or a place may not understand. The levels is a good question. You serve three years and get out and are luckily enough to not injure yourself are you a vet? I had a hard time taking that mantle when others tried putting it on me. In my mind I always thought that those who served in war were vets, now I don’t know it is one of those hazy grey areas that is hard to answer. The simple answer is if you serve you are a vet.
Now for benefits sake that is question I think is the harder question. For benefits sake? That is a hard question becuase there always is shit going on someplace that some beurocrat may not recognize. For instance Submarine guys are at a constant state of “war” they patrol the waters doing their job. Most of us will never know what they do and will never know the stress of their jobs. It isn’t the same as having someone shoot at you all the time but being underwater and not seeing the sky for 2-3months at a time definately qualifies for something. I think there are a lot of jobs like that in the military that are the same that people don’t think about.
Veteran is used as a noun when it’s really more useful as an adjective. What are you a veteran of? There’s plenty of options. Used as a noun in the US it generally means someone who is a “veteran of” military service. Growing up though I always looked at “veterans” as people who had served in a war, i.e. made a deployment and/or saw combat. I know that usage has fallen from favor with the massive social and financial apparatus that’s sprung to life around all former military members but deep down the old definition still resonates.
Spent 5 years in the Guard. Never deployed so technically I don’t count….
Lets keep things simple and easy to understand: Veteran is any one who has served 180 days in the military. All retired means is someone who decided to serve long enough to receive additional benefits. Note I said additional, why do retired disabled vets receive less than other disabled vets? Any way nuff on concurrent receipt.
-Ish
Zero, who decides what our Veterans are owed? They do, Fate does, politicians do, and we do. A Soldier that served honorably from 1986-1989, during the Cold War, ready for WWIII, is a Veteran, and should be honored for his service. If he were injured, we owe it to him to treat those injuries. He is not a lesser man because the call never came. His cards just didn’t have war in it, even though he was ready, and did his part. A Soldier that served from 2003-2006 with two tours of combat, has likewise done his part. He garners the respect of having passed the trial by fire. He did more, because war was in his cards. Likewise, we owe him, without cost to him, the treatment of any injuries he suffered for having done our bidding. We owe them both, the full extent of the contract Our Nation made with them for the possibility and reality of their service. They did their part. But what of the retiree? He served at least 20 years (or suffered injuries too great to continue). He did 6x what the Cold War (above) Veteran did, and quite likely 3-6x what the Iraq War (above) Veteran did, depending on his period of service. He stayed and led those that took the path he did in his first contracct. For that, we promised him more. His injuries may not be attributable to a single event, but rather decades of abuse. We owe it to him to treat those, because we made a contract with him to do so. He took his knocks. He learned from them. He applied them. And then he taught them to a new generation of Privates and then a new generation of Sergeants, and then a new generation of Senior NCO’s. Who determines what Veterans are owed? We do, as is written in the regulations and contracts, when they signed on the dotted line. No matter what we do in compensation, it is less than what they have given, but what we owe them, is what we promised them. And… Read more »
Lobster, as long as you served and left honorably, then yes, you too are a Veteran.
@10. for our purposes, yes. But when I worked for the Census (monthly surveys, not the decennial) Guard was excluded from the definition of US Veteran. Even one guy I had who was guard during Viet Nam. So- the gov’t is probably telling #7 exactly that – he doesn’t count.
As far as who’s a vet. I agree w #1. All who’ve served are vets. We all don’t deserve the same benefits, tho or services later in life.
Who decides? Frankly, I wish it was you all.
Thank Goodness !!
This (the comments above) is The Very Best compilation-discussion I have read of the concept, BY FAR !!
The Gub-Mint — is All Screwed “Up.”
THE COAST GUARD certainly was in-country Vietnam War .
Lobster, you served honorably, you’re a veteran in my book….
’88-’91 Desert Storm/Shield
If you’re ready to go, you’re good to go!
@ #11: That is pretty interesting! If I’m not a vet (because my entire military career was as a member of the Air Guard), then what am I? My retired USAF ID card doesn’t indicate anything about “sorta,” “semi,” “almost,” or anything else other than just retired.