Personally, I didn’t know there was a difference. In the photo, two National Guard Soldiers are wearing the right shoulder ‘combat patch’. I have seen active duty Command Sergeant Majors with over 20 years of service walking around with a slick sleeve on the right shoulder.
Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed a bill to broaden the definition of the title veteran in South Dakota last month, but a group of area veterans came out to Northern State University Friday to let him know they are unhappy with the decision.
Daugaard, appearing at NSU for a signing ceremony for the school’s new Confucius Institute, avoided close to two dozen protesters lined up on the north side of the library when his entourage entered the event through a back door.
Overwhelmingly supported in the Legislature during the recently concluded 2015 session, House Bill 1179, signed into law by the Republican governor on March 13, changed the status of the title “veteran” to include military reserve or National Guard members, which means those individuals can qualify for additional benefits.
A number of combat veterans in the state have spoken out against the bill, arguing that the measure means war veterans will get less of the benefit pie and that it waters down the meaning of the title.
“It makes things more difficult for legit combat veterans,” said Ted Fowler, a Vietnam War veteran from Aberdeen who served in the U.S. Army. “If this were high school, what they’d be doing is passing out letterman jackets to junior varsity players who have never seen any varsity action. Those folks haven’t earned the title.”
Asked on his way into the signing ceremony, Daugaard told the American News that he stands by his signing the bill into law.
“I certainly respect their right to object to the legislation,” Daugaard said. “That’s what America is all about — freedom of speech. The majority of the Legislature did not agree with them. We want to show the kind of respect that we show to those who have served overseas to all men and women who are willing to take that risk.”[…]
In one paragraph of the two-page letter, which was dated March 8, Fowler and Bacon ask “how can you look someone in the eye who served in combat and suffers from PTSD and tell that veteran his service is the same as someone who spent a few years in the Guard and was activated?”
After the crown dispersed from the outside the library, Bacon wondered whether the redefinition was more about the state collecting fees for such things as veteran-themed license plates and other special designations.
“I think this is mostly about money, which is sad,” Bacon said. “I think there was an injustice done here and we’d like to see it made right.”