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USNAviator
09-29-10, 07:56 PM
Picked this up from the Marine Corps Times. I never knew this existed

House OKs calling more Reserve retirees vets

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Sep 29, 2010 18:21:49 EDT

<form id="hidden"> <input id="headline" value="House OKs calling more Reserve retirees vets" type="hidden"> <input id="body" value="You have been sent an online news article as a courtesy of marinecorpstimes.com. To view the contents go to:" type="hidden"> <input id="url" value="http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/09/military-guardreserve-called-veterans-092910w/" type="hidden"> </form> National Guard and Reserve retirees who never saw extended military service are halfway to being able to call themselves veterans.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives approved by voice vote a bill, HR 3787, that gives Guard and Reserve retirees the privilege of being called veterans — an honor currently denied them because the legal definition of “veteran” applies only to those who served on active duty.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where its fate is unclear. There is no controversy about the measure, but senators may feel no pressing need to act because this is a largely symbolic measure, Senate aides said.

Rep. Timothy Walz, D-Minn., a retired Army National Guard command sergeant major whose service does qualify him to be called a veteran, said no new benefits would result from enactment of the Honor America’s Guard Reserve Retirees Act.

“Under current law, if members of the Reserve component have not served a qualifying period of federal active duty, there is one honor that we do not bestow upon them: We do not give them the right to call themselves veterans of the armed forces,” he said. “I believe that this oversight does a disservice to those who, like their counterparts in the active-duty component, volunteered to serve their country and made themselves liable for activation at any time.”

The honor that goes with the bill includes being able to march in veterans’ parades, salute when the Star Spangled Banner is played, and be recognized as a veteran by other veterans, Walz said.

The one limitation in his bill is that without active service, a Guard or Reserve member would be considered a veteran only if he completed 20 years or more of service and is retirement eligible or receiving military retired pay. Someone who briefly served in the Guard or Reserve but did not serve on active duty, other that basic training and annual training, and who did not service a minimum of 20 years would still not be considered a veteran.

usmc3521
09-29-10, 08:03 PM
F*cking stupid. We all went through the same boot camp and many many reserve units deploy as much as active components. So the 20+ reserve Marines killed in action from 3/25 in ohio are not considered veterans? Sorry in my book if you served reserve or active and served honorably you are a veteran.

RYDERKUR
09-29-10, 08:07 PM
F*cking stupid. We all went through the same boot camp and many many reserve units deploy as much as active components. So the 20+ reserve Marines killed in action from 3/25 in ohio are not considered veterans? Sorry in my book if you served reserve or active and served honorably you are a veteran.

The impression I got from the article is that anyone who didn't mobilize while a Guardsman/Reservist isn't currently considered a veteran and if this bill passes, those who only do the standard 4 or 6 year contract and don't mobilize will still not be considered veterans, but those who retire out of the Guards/Reserve will be considered a veteran. Does that kind of help? Stupid, yes, but I'm just trying to clear the article up for you.

slug
09-29-10, 08:14 PM
reserves who never activate do not know jack **** about this Corps.

usmc3521
09-29-10, 08:28 PM
yes, they know nothing..........you must be the smartest mother f*cker I have ever met in my life, think Ill fill me syringe with heroin now....

Zulu 36
09-29-10, 08:30 PM
reserves who never activate do not know jack **** about this Corps.


You have a whole two-years in the Corps, and no recorded pumps, and now you know everything about it?

josephd
09-29-10, 08:38 PM
I am a reservist and actually agree with this to a certain extent. If you spend x amount of years with a unit reserve or active does not give the you right to call yourself a veteran. The term veteran implies you have been on a deployment at sea or in foreign soils.

Kind of goes along with VFW posts, technically you had to of been on deployment on foreign land in order to rate being a VFW member. Hence the term Veteran of FOREIGN Wars.

usmc3521
09-29-10, 08:40 PM
2 years and 6 months to be exact there, killer. Not by my choice either, its all good though I got my revenge, paperwork changed and re upped for 4 more years. Yes, I do know a **** ton about the Marine Corps so if you would like me to fill you in on what the Marine Corps is like since you have been out since 1812 just let me know. S/F

PS dont get your panty ina wrinkle either, Im just messing with ya. Kind of on the war path tonight!

Backhaus 1103
09-29-10, 08:40 PM
On the other hand, do active duty Marines that never deploy rate being called a "veteran"?

usmc3521
09-29-10, 08:42 PM
yeah thats BS... Reserve or active should be either way.

sparkie
09-29-10, 08:43 PM
I grew up thinkin veteran was a veteran of a war. Silly me.

Backhaus 1103
09-29-10, 08:45 PM
I grew up thinkin veteran was a veteran of a war. Silly me.

That's what I thought.

usmc3521
09-29-10, 08:46 PM
yeah, looking back sparkie thats how vets were looked at (ie nam, Korea ww 2 etc) I think now since 9/11 the whole veteran thing was blanketed to all serving by the general public

USNAviator
09-29-10, 08:48 PM
2 years and 6 months to be exact there, killer. Not by my choice either, its all good though I got my revenge, paperwork changed and re upped for 4 more years. Yes, I do know a **** ton about the Marine Corps so if you would like me to fill you in on what the Marine Corps is like since you have been out since 1812 just let me know. S/F

PS dont get your panty ina wrinkle either, Im just messing with ya. Kind of on the war path tonight!


Kris

Remember your posts from a few months ago. Did you get everything cleared up? If so outstanding :thumbup:

Dan

usmc3521
09-29-10, 08:51 PM
yep I am good to go brother! All my waivers approved just waiting till the first!

Im 1/24 H&S Co's newest member in just a couple weeks!

USNAviator
09-29-10, 08:55 PM
yep I am good to go brother! All my waivers approved just waiting till the first!

Im 1/24 H&S Co's newest member in just a couple weeks!

Glad to hear it. Hope you can get in 20 as I did. It's worth it.

Fair winds

Dan

Komenko
09-29-10, 08:58 PM
reserves who never activate do not know jack **** about this Corps.

Your a moron! guess you forgot about boot camp and what you were tought there! So that means you don't know sh!t about our Corps either!

usmc3521
09-29-10, 09:00 PM
thanks Dan! Thats the plan. Got an awesome Sgt Maj who is making me his personal project lol Im gonna put my nose down, kick some butt, learn from the brothers who have been "in country" and rock and roll! The first chance I get Im going to hop on the active duty train! Thanks!

Zulu 36
09-30-10, 10:47 AM
thanks Dan! Thats the plan. Got an awesome Sgt Maj who is making me his personal project lol Im gonna put my nose down, kick some butt, learn from the brothers who have been "in country" and rock and roll! The first chance I get Im going to hop on the active duty train! Thanks!


Being the "personal project" of a Sergeant Major isn't usually a good thing, y'know. :D

EGA1957
09-30-10, 10:56 AM
Hmmmm. So &quot;technically,&quot; Revolutionary War and Civil War &quot;participants&quot; never became &quot;veterans.&quot; <br />
<br />
Guess that's the reason possibly why my GrGrandfather's Civil War discharge (presented in 1913)...

ggyoung
09-30-10, 11:08 AM
What about the Korea War Marine vets who did not go to boot camp? These Marines fought, bleed and died n Korea.

dhuntington
09-30-10, 11:17 AM
"Veteran is a veteran of a war" I wonder, does Beirut 1982 count? When I returned from Beirut, I was welcomed at the VFW. Made sense because it was the first action since 'Nam. Now that we've had Grenada, Iraq and Afghanistan, I don't think Beirut counts anymore. Hmmmmm!

yanacek
09-30-10, 11:28 AM
This bill seems to be nothing more that a "feel nice" piece of legislation. I did not see any mention of giving those affected anything of substance, other than the title of "Veteran." With all the crap that is happening today in this country, I am angered that Congress is wasting their time on "feel nice" legislation rather that addressing real problems.

tdrt
09-30-10, 12:24 PM
I grew up thinkin veteran was a veteran of a war. Silly me.

That's what I thought too. Even though I was on active duty during war, I never deployed for obvious reasons so therefore, I don't consider myself a Veteran.

stretchusa
09-30-10, 01:03 PM
What about the Korea War Marine vets who did not go to boot camp? These Marines fought, bleed and died n Korea.
I am missing something? When did this ever happen?

ggyoung
09-30-10, 01:37 PM
When Korea broke out in June 1950 the Marines called up the reserves some of them had been going to the meetings and such things and had not yet been to boot camp. These men went with there company aboard ship and headed to the war and fought in the war. Should they be called Marines even if they had not been to boot camp? I say they are Marines.

stretchusa
09-30-10, 01:47 PM
When Korea broke out in June 1950 the Marines called up the reserves some of them had been going to the meetings and such things and had not yet been to boot camp. These men went with there company aboard ship and headed to the war and fought in the war. Should they be called Marines even if they had not been to boot camp? I say they are Marines.
Ok I did not know this. However it makes sense now that I hear it. I wonder though, after they got home, if they stayed in the reserves did they have to go to boot camp? And you are right, without a doubt the men are Marines.

yanacek
09-30-10, 01:51 PM
Ok I did not know this. However it makes sense now that I hear it. I wonder though, after they got home, if they stayed in the reserves did they have to go to boot camp? And you are right, without a doubt the men are Marines.

Those that survived, had to go to boot camp--even the ones who survived the battle of Changjin (Chosin) Reservoir. Boot camp for them however, was not as intense as those who had no Marine Corps service.

stretchusa
09-30-10, 02:40 PM
Those that survived, had to go to boot camp--even the ones who survived the battle of Changjin (Chosin) Reservoir. Boot camp for them however, was not as intense as those who had no Marine Corps service.
Wow that must have been almost laughable for them. I wonder what they thought as they were going through boot camp after combat?

oldtop
09-30-10, 03:45 PM
I know several of these men, joined the USMCR in mid 1950, attended drills while waiting to be sent to boot camp. When the baloon went up, they were shipped over with the rest of the unit and had...

R Landry
10-03-10, 05:40 PM
When I was purchasing my cremation services, the funeral director told me that I was a veteran and that I could be buried for free at a military base in San Antonio. I told her that I did only six months of active duty and 5 years of weekend warrior stuff. No, she said, if you enlisted prior to such and such date and served as a reservist, you're a veteran. Bullsh#t.

Whenever my Rotary club asks for military service participants to stand up and be recognized, I proudly stand. But if they ask for veterans to stand, I never do. I'm old school -- deployed to combat; you're a veteran.

I'm just gonna have the little lady sprinkle my ashes anyway.

USNAviator
10-03-10, 10:11 PM
When I was purchasing my cremation services, the funeral director told me that I was a veteran and that I could be buried for free at a military base in San Antonio. I told her that I did only six months of active duty and 5 years of weekend warrior stuff. No, she said, if you enlisted prior to such and such date and served as a reservist, you're a veteran. Bullsh#t.

Whenever my Rotary club asks for military service participants to stand up and be recognized, I proudly stand. But if they ask for veterans to stand, I never do. I'm old school -- deployed to combat; you're a veteran.

I'm just gonna have the little lady sprinkle my ashes anyway.

Let's put this to rest gentleman. To me a Veteran is anyone who has put on a uniform and served his/her country honorably


What Is A Veteran

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?

He 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.

He 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.

She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility
and went to sleep sobbing every night for
two solid years in Da Nang.

He is the POW who went away one person and came back another -
or didn't come back AT ALL.

He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat -
but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account
rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to
watch each other's backs.

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

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

He 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.

He 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.

He is an ordinary and yet an 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.

He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness,
and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on
behalf of the finest, the 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."
author- Father Denis Edward O'Brien
USMC

Sgt Leprechaun
10-04-10, 12:00 AM
I tend to agree with some but not all of this. Also not mentioned in the discussion here is that this new touchy feely rule ONLY applies to retirees...NOT to the reservist who doesn't deploy and does their tour, then gets out.

I also think that if you served on active duty (for something other than recruit training and MOS school) then you 'rate' the title of 'veteran'. But that's just me.
I don't care if it was peace/war or whatever.

Last point, if you are mobilized as a reservist and deploy, or just volunteer and go, then you are officially considered a 'veteran'. (Under current law/rule).

"Veterans preference" wasn't given to ALL folks who applied for gov jobs who had served in the military until just a few years back. Prior to then, you had to have a 'campaign/service' medal (like Kosovo, or one of the Expeditionary Medals if not a 'named' campaign) to be eligible for a 5 point preference.

ShannonL
10-04-10, 12:40 AM
I grew up thinkin veteran was a veteran of a war. Silly me.

vet·er·an
n.1. A person who is long experienced or practiced in an activity or capacity: a veteran of political campaigns.
2. A person who has served in the armed forces: "Privilege, a token income . . . were allowed for veterans of both world wars" (Mavis Gallant).
3. An old soldier who has seen long service.



Thats they the world has understood it from the days of spears and loin cloths. They way I see, the difference between a deployed Marine and a deployed Reserve on the same battle field is a title and a patch. The enemy doesnt give a damn what your title is or who you are, he just wants you dead. WWII had the largest number of Vets in history. 16 year old boys went as reserves and came back War Vets. Hell some even got the Congressional Medal of Honour, check this site>>>http://www.cmohs.org/

I show you all the same respect as you all deserve. God bless you all!