Who Is The Real Vietnam Veteran?

Question:

A Vietnam veteran must have VSM or the words VIETNAM SERVICE MEDAL on their DD Form 214. I’m a USAF vet who served one year at U-Tapao AB in Thailand from 1969-1970. If you served in these countries of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, during specific times during the war, you were considered a Vietnam veteran as defined below. Also, there are specific areas of water bordering Vietnam that are also eligible for the VSM. So many who served outside of these areas defined above and below want to be considered a Vietnam veteran..They are not Vietnam veterans. I get very upset when so many organizations were established either to make money or distort the actual meaning of who is a Vietnam veteran. OLUME: 3 DATE: 2008-07-01 ORIGINAL DATE: 2008-07-01 TITLE: SECTION 578.26 - VIETNAM SERVICE MEDAL. CONTEXT: TITLE 32 - NATIONAL DEFENSE. SUBTITLE A - DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (CONTINUED). CHAPTER V - DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY. SUBCHAPTER F - PERSONNEL. PART 578 - DECORATIONS, MEDALS, RIBBONS, AND SIMILAR DEVICES. - GENERAL. § 578.26VIETNAM SERVICE MEDAL. (A) CRITERIA. THE VIETNAM SERVICE MEDAL (VSM) WAS ESTABLISHED BY EXECUTIVE ORDER 11231, JULY 8, 1965. IT IS AWARDED TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES SERVING IN VIETNAM AND CONTIGUOUS WATERS OR AIRSPACE THEREOVER, AFTER JULY 3, 1965 THROUGH MARCH 28, 1973. MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES IN THAILAND, LAOS, OR CAMBODIA, OR THE AIRSPACE THEREOVER, DURING THE SAME PERIOD AND SERVING IN DIRECT SUPPORT OF OPERATIONS IN VIETNAM ARE ALSO ELIGIBLE FOR THIS AWARD."

Jim's Reply:

When you write to me to tell me, "I get very upset", when you discuss something as trivial as a nickname or label for who served where, I have to question why? I'm a Vietnam era veteran, I served proudly in Germany during the Vietnam war era and to call me anything else would be silly. Many of my close friends spent a year or more of their time in combat on the soil of Vietnam and they are properly referred to as Vietnam vets. We may be somewhat cataloged by when and where we served or by which branch of service we were in or any of a dozen other differences we experienced but the one that unites us is we each have a DD-214. We're all just veterans...leave any further segregation or classification alone, it just isn't worth you getting upset over. If you want something to be upset over...look at the BoSox potential starting lineup for 2020. There's a disaster waiting to happen. Now I'm upset!