What Is a Veteran? That Is Honor.

There are many ways to define a veteran. Branch of service. Years served. Conflicts participated in. But the definition that cuts deepest is simpler and more demanding than any of those:

A veteran is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to the United States of America. For an amount up to and including their life.

That is honor.

What a Blank Check Actually Means

When you write a blank check, you're agreeing in advance to pay whatever amount is filled in — without knowing what that number will be. When you enlist in the military, you're doing the same thing with your time, your health, and potentially your life. You don't know in advance what will be asked of you. You don't know if you'll serve in peacetime or wartime. You don't know what your body or your mind will go through. But you agree in advance to give whatever is required.

Most people will never make a commitment like that. Most jobs come with clear parameters: these are the hours, this is the pay, this is what you're agreeing to do. Military service is categorically different. The commitment is open-ended in a way that very few Americans fully grasp.

The Growing Gap in Understanding

With fewer than 7% of Americans having served in the military, and that percentage declining each generation, the civilian-military gap is widening. Too many people in this country no longer understand what veteran service actually required — or fully appreciate what "I served" means when a veteran says it.

This bold graphic tee puts the definition directly in front of people. "What Is a Veteran?" followed by the blank check explanation, followed by the only appropriate response: "That Is Honor." And then the reminder that too many people have forgotten what that means.

Find this design at Liberty Shirts and browse the full collection at libertyshirts.net.