House OKs calling more Reserve retirees vets - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

House OKs calling more Reserve retirees vets

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.