Who is a veteran?

[NIN]

1985-1986 ARMY IRR DEP (the gap between my September enlistment and my February BASD always throws off my @#$%& reserve time)
1986-1989 Active Duty Army 67U1F Medium Helicopter Flight Engineer, Cp Humphreys, ROK
1989-1995 MI ARNG "wrench bender on multiple aircraft" (UH-1s, AH-1s and OH-58s, normally, but CH-47s, UH-60s and AH-64s when they happened to be there.  Only school-trained on CH-47s and AH-1s, shake-and-baked for Apaches)

CAP member since 1981.

[dmac]

1981-1986 Cadet, Nebraska Wing, Attempted Spaatz exam once.
1982-1985 Supply Clerk, Co. B (Med) 67th SPT Bn, 67th Inf Bde Nebraska National Guard
1985-1987 Equipment records and parts specialist, 226th MEDSOM, Pirmasens, Germany
1988-1989 Assistant NCOIC, and NCOIC, Aviation Supply, Laguna Army Airfield, Yuma Proving Ground AZ
1989-1992 Supply Sergeant and Operations NCO, 261st Signal CO, Hanau, Germany
1992-1995 Drill Sergeant, D Co, 2/46th INF, 1st ATB Ft Knox, KY
1995-1998 Supply Sergeant, A Co, 94th ECB (H) Hohenfels GE
Apr 1996-Nov 1996 Deployment to Tuzla East(Camp Steel Castle) Tuzla, Bosnia Operation Joint Endeavor
Jul 1998-Dec 1998 Bn Supply SGT and HQ PLT PSG, HHC 2/101st AVN (Attack) 101st ABN DIV (AASLT)

Rejoined as a SM in Apr 1987, served in 2 overseas squadrons and been serving ever since including 3 times as a Squadron Commander

ARCOM-2, AAM-3, AGCM-4, NDSM, AFEM, AFSM, ASR, OSR-3, NCOPDR-3, NATOMDL, Driver's Badge, SUA, German Armed Forces Marksmanship Cord in Bronze

One addition I would like to make is a salute to my father, MAJ Woodrow R. (Ralph) McMillan, INF, USAR, RVN service 1970-1971, cancer took him in 2000 and I miss him so much and am so proud to call him dad and a role model!

Thanks to those who have served at any time and in any capacity, your service is important in any role!

Darrell R. McMillan, Lt Col, CAP
Inspector General, NEWG

[Ohioguard]

1973 - 1988 Active AF
1991 - 1993 Ohio Army NG
1992 - 2004 Ohio Air NG (200th Red Horse Squadron)

Member in CAP since 1968.



JEFFREY C WANDELL, Lt Col, CAP

[bosshawk]

A little late on this, since I was at the Wing Conf.

Army ROTC, Bucknell University, 1953-57.
Commissioned 2/Lt, Transportation Corps
Branch transferred to Military Intelligence-1964.
US Army Reserves, 1957-59
Active Duty, Army, 1959-68, with service in Germany, Korea and Viet Nam
US Army Reserves, 1968-1987
Masters Degree, the Johns Hopkins University.
Retired, Colonel, Military Intelligence.
Graduate, US Army Special Warfare School, US Army Transportation School, US Army Intelligence School.

Graduate US Army Command and General Staff College.
Graduate, US Air Force Air War College.

Probably have left some stuff out.

1968-1991-staff employee, Central Intelligence Agency,
Retired 1991 as a GS-15.

CAP service 1993-present.

[SarDragon]

Same here on the Wing Conf thing.

AT1, USN, 1969-1989

Served at:
Boot Camp (G'Lakes) and "A" School (Memphis) - 1969-1970
NAS Brunswick, ME - 1970-1973
Navy Air Support Unit, MCAS Iwakuni, Japan - 1973-1976
NAF Misawa, Japan - 1976-1977
NAS/NAEC Lakehurst, NJ - 1977-1980
USS Midway, Yokosuka, Japan - 1980-1983
AIMD Calibration School, NAS North Island, CA - 1983-1987
NAF Misawa, Japan - 1987-1989

Two IO cruises in Midway - Navy Expeditionary Medal x 2

My CAP service is documented elsewhere in CAP Talk.

[SarDragon]

Also late, but something I got in an email a while back. Vet's Day is one of
those holidays I get sentimental on.

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, 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".
 
Remember, November 11th is Veterans Day

* * * * *

"It is the soldier, not the reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,
Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier,
Who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protestor to burn the flag."
 
often attributed to Father Denis Edward O'Brien, USMC

[Hoser]

US Coast Guard, 1974-78
HM2
Air Station Kodiak

[wingnut]

:angel:
Wow some of you guys served when they still carried WOODEN Rifles.

I think Bosshawk may have still had 03 Springfields around


If your ever at the VA Cemetery IN West Los Angeles, take the opportunity to walk among  the Brave men and woman there. I believe there are over 10,000 civil war veterans, men who Fought in the Indian Wars, Spanish American War and Many Soldiers who have been awarded the Medal of Honor.
http://www.cem.va.gov/CEM/cems/nchp/losangeles.asp

[JohnKachenmeister]

:angel:
Wow some of you guys served when they still carried WOODEN Rifles.

I think Bosshawk may have still had 03 Springfields around


If your ever at the VA Cemetery IN West Los Angeles, take the opportunity to walk among  the Brave men and woman there. I believe there are over 10,000 civil war veterans, men who Fought in the Indian Wars, Spanish American War and Many Soldiers who have been awarded the Medal of Honor.
http://www.cem.va.gov/CEM/cems/nchp/losangeles.asp

I can't speak for Bosshawk, but I was issued an M-1 Garand in Recruit Training.

I had an M-14 in Field Medical School.

That's the only "Woodstock" I ever experienced back in the 1960's!

[ColonelJack]

Kach...

We used M-14s in ROTC when I was in high school in the early 70s.  I can still do the manual of arms with it.  (Or I could if I could find one.)

Jack

[Fifinella]

Had an M-1 at the Academy for 4 years.  The barrel was lead-filled, allegedly to keep cadets from doing creative things like firing pencils from them.  I think some sadist just wanted to make them that much heavier for those long marches...

[Hoser]

Please don't infer that I in any way would detract from anyone's service. That would be unconscienable. I must say though, one thing about Veteran's Day that makes my blood boil is not that everyone is always talking about the vets who got shot at or liberated death camps, treated the wounded for hours on end or were POWs. Yes those brave men and women deserve recognition and honor and respect, they have more than earned it, and I hold them in highest regard. But what  does make it boil is the lack of mention of the men and women who go into the Bering Sea in a helicopter at night , mid winter in 50 knot winds and 30 ft seas. What about the men and women who brave the Columbia River Bar in a 47 ft vessel? What about the men and women who on a daily basis go into harm's way and never once hear an gunshot or face an IED, but instead face all that mother nature has to throw at them? Please don't forget us, The United States Coast Guard.

Semper Paratus

Hoser

[ColonelJack]

Please don't forget us, The United States Coast Guard.

Semper Paratus

Last night, I was the emcee at our annual "USO-Style" show to raise money for the upkeep of our town's veterans' memorial.  At the end of the show, our featured performers do a medley of service hymns and we ask all veterans to stand when they hear their service song.  (This year, the Air Force had the biggest number show up.)

But the loudest and longest cheer came about during the Coast Guard's song ... for the first time in our show's five-year history, a Coastie showed up and stood up.  He got the biggest cheer of all.

Thanks, to all Coasties out there.  You're one of us too.

Jack

P.S. -- if you visit my blog and look at the video clips, you'll see one of me actually singing at last year's USO show.  Sheesh, the things I do for art.

[SAR-EMT1]

CAP cadet 2000 to 2003
(transitioned to Senior to assist an overburdened Sq. Staff)
AFROTC 2003-2005
Honor Cadet, Rising Sophmore Internship, marked as a future Missileer.
(put on med hold one week from Field Training)
... Submitted waiver to AD USAF, ANG, AFR, ARNG... still waiting.
Joined USCG Aux 2006 to Augment in Health and Ops.

So far thats the closest Ive been, but Im still hopefull.
Current plan- finish bachelors and get SOS through CAP/AFIADL
Use them as extra ammunition on my waiver, attempt entry in to OCS.

Thanks to all, for your Service.
my maternal grandfather was the first person in the area and quite possibly the state of IL to enlist at the beginning of the Korean War.
Served the Navy as an Electricians Mate on a Destroyer. (personal Hero)

Personal note: was at Scott AFB, IL this weekend for CLC. WOW...
Never got a salute, only saw one person in uniform, who did compliment me on my uniform wear, the rest were civillians (what is the USAF coming to?)

[Hawk200]

Quick and dirty list:

10 years active Air Force, Telephone
3 1/2 years Army Guard (the first time), Radio
1 1/2 years Air Guard, was in school to be Weather, but Katrina interrupted
2 years Army Guard (currently), Blackhawk mechanic

Been interesting at times, and a headache on ocassion, but it's experience I wouldn't trade for anything.

[capchiro]

Question for the forum.  This is not a flame or an attempt to start WWIII.  Does anyone know what the requirements for veteran status are?  I think they are different than for prior service.  There are those that may have served that may not be veteran status if I am correct.  I believe that there are certain dates that apply and times on active duty.  Does anyone know the cite to the requirements for Vet status or where to look?  Thank you.   

[Al Sayre]

Depends on what you want the definition for.  I think for the purpose of VA benefits it is 180 days AD service + Honorable discharge or 1 Day active service with service connected disability ( i.e. got injured in boot camp...) You can contact your County Veterans Services Officer for more information.  Different Veterans Organizations have their own requirements, for example I am a member of the American Legion, but am not eligble for the VFW...

[davedove]

Depends on what you want the definition for.  I think for the purpose of VA benefits it is 180 days AD service + Honorable discharge or 1 Day active service with service connected disability ( i.e. got injured in boot camp...) You can contact your County Veterans Services Officer for more information.  Different Veterans Organizations have their own requirements, for example I am a member of the American Legion, but am not eligble for the VFW...

Very true, you would have to check the laws for different benefits.

AMVETS considers everyone who served honorably, active, reserve, or guard to, to be veterans.

[bosshawk]

Wingnut: thanks for your irreverent remarks.

I qualified in ROTC Summer Camp with the M-1.  In Basic Officers Course, I qualified with the M-2 Carbine and the 45.  I also qualified with the 3.5in Rocket Launcher and the 12 ga shotgun(fortunately never used either one).

I never had the opportunity to qualify with the M-14, although I took part in the acceptance tests for it.  I have never even held an M-16: the troops in VN when I was there were being issued them, but us REMFs didn't get them until after I left country.  I carried a 45 for my whole tour in VN.

Probably more info than you wanted.  Missed you in Ontario.

[Dragoon]

Active Army, 21 years and counting....