Posted by JerryS on November 11, 2012 at 17:30:26 from (68.18.59.174):
JDSeller’s earlier post ordering up a roll call for the board’s veterans caused me to again ask myself, “Am I a veteran?” I was proud to wear this country’s uniform for six years. I was good at what I did, and I made staff sergeant E-6 my last year. But I’ve never really felt comfortable calling myself a veteran.
Why the question? I was an ER----a member of the Enlisted Reserve, and I was in it during the Vietnam years. It was 1965; I was just out of college and married. I was working. But when I got called up for my pre-induction physical I knew the inevitable result. Back then young men faced the draft, Vietnam or not. I decided I should try to go in on my own terms. My best pal (his circumstances were identical to mine) and I decided to enlist together into the Army OCS program. We saw the recruiter, took and passed all the tests and were assured we would be called up within a month.
I went back to my job and gave notice. They hired a replacement. I was putting my business in order. Then the recruiter called: a football knee that showed up on my physical knocked me out of OCS consideration. My knee was still good enough for ground-pounding, however.
Up to that point I had not even considered Reserve or National Guard. This was before Guard and Reserve slots were scarce; in fact, I was attracted by a story in my local newspaper that the Reserve unit was trying to expand and was actively recruiting new members. Turned out there were about 60 of us, and we all went through basic together at Polk---seven months later. I was a PFC when I went to basic. After that my service to my country consisted of AIT then one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer.
So, my question to you guys is, am I a veteran? I have a DD 214, but no veteran benefits. No question I’m not a veteran in the sense of JD and other of you guys who have seen the elephant. Every year at church they ask all veterans to stand. I stood a couple of times, but usually I keep my seat. I have two older friends at church----one was in the water at Omaha at 0630 on 6-6-44, the other was circling overhead in a B-24. At some point I told myself I would never stand as a veteran as long as these two guys were in attendance
All responses, no matter how direct, will be respected as I know of no other group of guys who are qualified to offer a valid opinion.
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