What is a veteran?

Last week there was a shooting at a Navy Yard. A friend of mine posted a link* on facebook about how the shooter was collecting VA benefits. She commented "...so what? why is this relevant?"

While the link leads to USA Today, I would not call the handful of sentences an article. They mention what he was receiving benefits for: tinnitus and "an orthopedic problem," and make note that he was never deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. I have no idea whether or not any of this is relevant. The tone of the "article" seems to imply that collecting VA payments is bad and that being deployed is the only thing that could legitimize collecting those payments.

I saw an essay titled "Don't call Navy Yard Gunman Aaron Alexis a Veteran," which also highlights that Alexis was never deployed. While the essay goes on to say that Alexis' status as a veteran isn't necessarily the cause of the shooting and cautions against the stereotypes of veterans as time bombs, I take offense to the title. Alexis is a veteran. His veteran status does not excuse or explain his actions. His disability rating also neither explains nor excuses his actions.

I find it disturbing that the response to Alexis being labeled a ticking time bomb veteran is to disavow his veteran status at all. Veterans are people. Some veterans are assholes and some veterans are noble. Some veterans are ignorant and racist and sexist. Some veterans are intelligent and compassionate. What "veteran" means to me is that a man or woman wrote a blank check to our government. That is a noble thing to do, regardless of the motives. It is noble to volunteer for service, even if it is the only noble action in a lifetime of terrible deeds.

I know a veteran who has some guilt because she collects VA disability because of an injury she suffered in boot camp. She never made it past boot camp. I knew her before she joined the Army. Her plan was to serve her country. She was blind-sided by an injury and a misdiagnosis, followed by mistreatment and lifelong leg pain. She is a veteran and she deserves to be compensated for her injury. She is not a ticking time bomb.

I know veterans who judge other veterans based on their branch of service or their MOS (Military Occupation Code). Whenever I hear an infantry vet complaining that a group of air force veterans won't understand what they're going through, I tell the story of my husband meeting a Air Force dental technician. She told him she had PTSD, and he mentally scoffed, but he asked what her job had been. After she told him she was a dental technician, he scoffed a bit more, but said something non-committal. She then opened up a bit, explaining that her primary job had been to identify dead soldiers by their dental records. It was an eye-opening moment for him and me, reaffirming that you never know what someone else has been through.

I know another veteran who has several issues. He was never deployed. He has PTSD from watching men die in training, TBI from a head injury on a ship and back pain from a fall in training. He feels guilty about collecting disability payments because he never went to war. I know vets who went to war who feel bad they didn't die in combat.

It is not easy being a veteran, not least of all because people stereotype them. Veterans are not ticking time bombs. They are not all burly men either. They are people. Some people are assholes and some people are noble. Some people are ignorant and racist and sexist. Some people are intelligent and compassionate.



*http://www.usatoday.com/story/nation/2013/09/18/navy-yard-shootings-aaron-alexis/2834103/ **http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/18/don-t-call-navy-yard-gunman-aaron-alexis-a-veteran.html