What's the True Definition of a Veteran?
- Johnnie Gilpen
- Nov 30, 2025
- 2 min read
On Friday, November 14th, 2025, I had the honor of serving as the keynote speaker for the OU Health “Heroes in Health” Veterans Day program—an event dedicated to recognizing employees who have served, or continue to serve, in our nation’s armed forces.
My presentation centered on a question that
sounds simple, but is anything but simple for many who have worn the uniform:
“What’s the True Definition of a Veteran?”
Not the definition outsiders see.
Not the definition written in law.
But the definition veterans see when they look in the mirror.
Because in my work with veterans, service members, and their families, I’ve learned that the hardest identity for many veterans to accept is their own. Not because they didn’t serve, but because they constantly measure their story against someone else’s.
To explore this, I walked the audience through six categories of veterans—not categories created by the military, but categories created in the minds of veterans themselves as they silently try to determine whether their service “counts.”
1. Veterans who served in the National Guard or Reserves but never deployed to a combat zone.
These veterans often downplay their service because they didn’t deploy, forgetting that their readiness allowed others to go.
2. Active Duty veterans who never deployed.
They may carry a quiet guilt, even though they fulfilled every obligation their country asked of them.
3. Those who deployed to a combat zone but never saw combat.
They were there. They left their families. They entered the unknown. Yet many convince themselves their service was somehow “less than.”
4. Those who deployed, saw combat, and came home physically intact.
They may minimize their trauma because they didn’t come home with visible injuries—though the invisible ones can be just as heavy.
5. Those who deployed, saw combat, and were physically injured.
Their scars—seen or unseen—tell stories that many wish they never earned, and yet they often separate themselves from others who served “without injury.”
6. Veterans who served honorably for years but made a mistake and were discharged with an OTH or BCD, or who faced incarceration after service.
These veterans often feel disqualified from even the word veteran, despite having worn the same uniform, taken the same oath, and sacrificed in ways the world may never see.
Every one of these veterans carries an internal cost—a payment of shame, guilt, pride, humility, regret, or comparison—as they try to decide whether they “deserve” the title Veteran.
In my talk, I gave the most straightforward answer possible to a community that knows all too well that nothing about military service is ever straightforward:
**A veteran is someone who raised their right hand and served. Period.**
But the truth is, defining a veteran on paper is easy. How veterans define themselves is far more complicated.
And that was the heart of my message: No matter the path, the branch, the deployments, the lack of deployments, the injuries, or the mistakes—the uniform was the great equalizer.
Every veteran’s story is different. Every veteran’s sacrifice is real, and every veteran deserves to see themselves the way their country sees them.
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