25 Signs You Might Be A Veteran

A veteran is classified as any person that has served for any amount of time in any uniformed service. There's more to it than that though. There is a type of person that comes out of a service once they've finished their time. The military moulds you. It makes you a thinker, a doer, a decisive individual who knows how to iron a shirt and how to polish a pair of shoes. Even those veterans that fall on hard times have it in them to step up when the need arises. Maybe you're a veteran. Maybe. Here's 25 signs that might help you figure out if you really are.

1. If you look at service personnel today, and laugh at them thinking that they're being original, you might be a veteran.

2. If you turn up everywhere early, and classify those who turn up on time as being late, you might be a veteran.

3. If you look at catalogues of military kit, and consider buying stuff only to realise you have no reason to use it, you might be a veteran.

4. If you buy kit out of military catalogues anyway, you might be a veteran.

5. If you look at hippies, emos, goths, skater boys, druggies, bums, and in fact anybody who isn't in some kind of service, and wish somebody would whip them into shape and cut their hair, you might be a veteran.

6. If you defend the armed forces at every opportunity, you might be a veteran.

7. If you have a strange fixation with firearms, you might be a veteran.

8. If you wow your friends and colleagues with suspiciously accurate knowledge of military kit and equipment, you might be a veteran.

9. If you have an opinion on military foreign policy, and tell anyone who'll listen, you might be a veteran.

10. If you can strike up a conversation with anybody you feel like, you might be a veteran.

11. If you fear no man, woman, nor beast, you might be a veteran.

12. If you can look another person right in the eye when you talk to them, you might be a veteran.

13. If you are proud of your flag and your people, no matter their race, colour, or creed, you might be a veteran.

14. If you secretly miss the toil and hardship of serving, you might be a veteran.

15. If you openly believe that you had it harder then the young military personnel of today, you might be a veteran.

16. If you secretly believe that you had it easier than the military personnel that came before you, you might be a veteran.

17. If you have outright respect for those that choose to put on a uniform and defend their country, you might be a veteran.

18. If you understand that all of the uniformed services share a common purpose and share a mutual understanding of duty, you might be a veteran.

19. If you rip the other services apart for being fat, lazy, homosexual, stupid, bone headed, privileged, overpaid, etc, but would be honoured to fight side by side with them again, you might be a veteran.

20. If you gave a period of your life to something bigger than the sum of its parts, you might be a veteran.

21. If you ever referred to yourself by your last name, or simply a number, you might be a veteran.

22. If you have many friends from the far reaches of the country, you might be a veteran.

23. If you ever stood on a gate, in the rain, and questioned your life choices, you might be a veteran.

24. If you live your life by a moral code, that few civilians understand, you might be a veteran.

25. If you have a strange relationship with alcohol, that few civilians understand, you might be a veteran.

So, there are 25 reason. Feel free to add your own. What do you think makes a veteran?