All retired National Guardsmen will likely soon be able to legally call themselves veterans.
The Senate passed legislation last week that would grant veteran status to any Guardsman or Reservist who has served 20 years. The House approved a similar provision Monday.
Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., a member of the Senate Veteran’s Affairs Committee, championed the legislation in the Senate; Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., pushed the matter in the House.
Current law requires Guardsmen and Reservists to serve at least 179 days on federal active duty for other than training to be considered a veteran, regardless of how many years they have in uniform.
“It’s a travesty that Guardsmen and Reservists who have served this country honorably for 20 years or more cannot legally call themselves veterans, they are in most Americans’ eyes, and we have never been closer to making that true in the eyes of the law.”
Changing the law has been an EANGUS and LANGEA priority for several years. The matter, however, always died in the Senate, where some feared providing these men and women veterans status would confer added federal benefits. The association worked in recent months to allay those fears.
The House and Senate will have to settle differences in their separate legislation, but EANGUS and LANGEA believe the issues are minor and can easily be reconciled.
