Re: Who can be considered a veteran?

As a military veteran of 31 years, 11 months and 14 days, let me first say thank you to you for your continued support and recognition of all military members. Your selfless acts of support, research and assistance to the posters on this site does not go unnoticed.

With that said, here is a quote with some links and one to the Veteran's Association regarding benefits.

"I like the following definition, which was once penned by an unknown author:"

"A veteran is someone who, at one point in his/her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America," for an amount of "up to and including my life."

"In actuality, there is no standardized legal definition of "military veteran" in the United States. You see, veteran benefits weren't created all at one time. They've been added one-by-one for over 200 years by Congress. Each time Congress passed a new law authorizing and creating a new veteran benefit, they included eligibility requirements for that particular benefit. Whether or not one is considered a "veteran" by the federal government depends entirely upon which veteran program or benefit one is applying for."

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/benefits/a/vetbenefits.htmhttp://usmilitary.about.com/od/benefits/a/vetbenefits.htm

"This web site is dedicated to the surviving spouses and dependents of military personnel who died while in active military service and to the survivors of veterans who died after active service."

"While most benefits are the same regardless of whether the service member or veteran died on active duty or during civilian life, the "Death in Service" button shown below will take you to additional information specific to death in service issues."

http://www.vba.va.gov/survivors/http://www.vba.va.gov/survivors/

You may note that the VA web site does not specifically refer to a military member killed on active duty as a "veteran"...there are however "veteran benefits" that the military member and their surviving spouse and dependents are eligible for.