What is a Veteran

I have the utmost respect for all who served their country in military positions and especially for those who faced death for the cause of liberty. I honor combat veterans and America's fallen heroes. However, up until now, I assumed that on Veterans' Day we celebrate the lives and great deeds of all the patriots who fought for our country. Yet yesterday, my daughter asked me what a veteran is, and today I looked it up. I found an insidious link between the term "veteran" and the idea of somebody exclusively employed by the government at public expense to make war. And a "war veteran" is somebody employed by any branch of the government military to make war on other countries on foreign soil. That would leave George Washington and Jean Laffite entirely out of the running for "war veteran".

http://www.americanwarlibrary.com/whatvet.htm


Here is what they have to say:

A military veteran is any person who served for Any length of time in Any military service branch.

A war veteran is any GI (Government Issue) ordered to foreign soil or waters to participate in direct or support activity against an enemy.  

But is that true? If you defend your own country on American soil not wearing a uniform and not deployed by any branch of the service or ordered to do so by the government, are you not a veteran?

If that is true, then Veterans' Day is not a holiday celebrating America's patriots, but one glorifying the government's power to use public funds to deploy military overseas.