What is a Veteran?

[dwarven1]

Got this from a friend and had to share it.

What Is A Veteran?

A "Veteran" -- whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve -- is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America," for an amount of "up to, and including" his life.

That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country today, who no longer understand that fact.

 

[wolf223]

That is one definition.... pretty good one, IMO

the actual definition is found under title 18, u.s code and each state further defines "veterans" for the purpose of benefits.

-

i will also add that the term "veteran" is thrown around loosly as well.

to make a looooong story short, if you do 2 years on active duty, 90 days in a combat zone or get injured under "circumstances simulating war" - you may be considered a veteran by federal law.

now, wether you were a scum bag, got chaptered out of the military under "general" or faked an injury, you get the same benefits as those who did their time honorably... anything shy of a purple heart, and in some cases bronze and silver stars... is open for discussion on whether they person is "worthy" of the "veteran status".... and even the awards come into question when rank is factor'd in... (i.e. an admin. person who is higher ranking will get a Bronze Star for sending power point stats while the guy kicking in doors gets an achievement medal)...

 

[Twigg]

Thanks for sharing that Ross !

 

[dwarven1]

Strangely enough, although I've got military relatives in my family as far back as the Civil War, I don't know of any who've been killed in combat... although a great uncle was gassed in WWI. (He survived, needless to say.)

 

[vicpinto]

Thanks for that Ross. That's a great definition.

 

[Ray-500]

Got this from a friend and had to share it.

What Is A Veteran?

A "Veteran" -- whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve -- is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America," for an amount of "up to, and including" his life.

That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country today, who no longer understand that fact.

Very good description and very appropriate to all branches and all levels of service.

 

[MrsWildweasel]

Thanks Ross.

 

[Wolf99]

My cousin read this at his father's funeral a few months back- thought I would share it....

WHAT IS A VETERAN?
(Attributed to a Marine Corp chaplain, Father Denis Edward O'Brian)

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them, a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg – or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity.

Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking. What is a vet?

A vet is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.

A vet is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th Parallel.

A vet is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.

A vet is the POW who went away one person and came back another – or didn't come back at all.

A vet is the drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account punks and gang members into marines, airmen, sailors, soldiers and coast guardsmen, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.

A vet is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.

A vet is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.

A vet is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.

A vet is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

A vet is an ordinary and yet extraordinary human being, a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.


A vet is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more that the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.

So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say, "Thank You." That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.

Two little words that mean a lot, "THANK YOU".

 

[MrsWildweasel]

That's nice. Thank you for posting that.

 

[dwarven1]

WHAT IS A VETERAN?
A vet is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

Here's a couple more for you.

A vet is the guy who works as a butcher by day and a clockmaker by night who you never knew was a vet... until the time he told you about being in the first unit into a Nazi death camp - Buchenwald, I think, but it was a long time ago when he told me about it.

He's the optometrist who made your glasses for most of your life, yet you didn't know that he fought in the Pacific until you were in your forties... and the only way you found out is that he REALLY doesn't want to see the emails about the Iraq war because they give him flashbacks... 60 years later.

He's the father of your best friend, who you've known literally all your life - and never knew he was a pilot in WWII until you saw his flag-draped coffin at his funeral.