Regarding the article “Veterans left out of census count” (July 12, TribLIVE): Yes, veterans should be considered, included and counted in every aspect of our country.
One problem is there are veterans and there are others who are not really veterans.
A veteran who was drafted (years back) was asked to protect our country; a veteran that enlisted definitely protected our country. The ones that belonged to a reserve might be considered a reservist, not an active service veteran, unless they were called to active service and served in active military actions for at least a steady (one year true service) year.
Then there is policing duty. Most military actions since Korea have been police actions, not a battle that would save or protect our country. With that being said, the service people that were involved in those police actions are the ones that are heard the most and make the most noise; they are the ones that want the most benefits. The older true military battle veterans came home and went back to work. Most of us were never counted in anything; many were just put aside due to the federal equal employment actions that kicked in by people complaining about not getting the jobs.
Today most of the true military service veterans are dead, and many were never counted for anything.
Thanks to Megan Tomasic for writing the article.
Robert Ebitz
Hempfield