100 Questions and Answers About Veterans: A Guide for Civilians

"One Hundred Questions and Answers About Veterans: A Guide for Civilians" is part of the Michigan State University School of Journalism series on cultural competence.

This guide has sections on military structure, culture and families, demographics, work, money, deployment and discharge, politics and resources for more study.The guide is written for those who want quick answers to the basic, everyday questions that people ask about veterans. The guide is intended for people in business, schools, government, medicine, law enforcement, human resources and journalism who need a basic grounding.


Questions include:
* Who has veteran status?
* How many U.S. veterans are there?
* Which conflict involved the most U.S. service personnel?
* How many U.S. military deaths have there been in various wars?
* In which conflict were the most American lives lost?
* What percentage of veterans are women, and how is that changing?
* Are WACS and WAVES veterans?
* What are the racial and ethnic demographics of veterans?
* What was the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy?
* How did ending the draft in 1973 change the military?
* Why do people go into the military?
* What percentage of service personnel serve in combat?
* Do women serve in combat?
* What do we call members of the different branches?
* How are commissioned and noncommissioned officers different?
* Who commands the military?
* What is military court?
* What are the highest medals in the different branches?
* Is it illegal to wear medals one has not earned?
* Does everyone in the military carry a weapon?
* Are there military rivalries?
* How do job responsibilities vary among branches?
* What are some examples of military jargon?
* Why is military appearance so precise?
* Do service members have a sense of camaraderie?
* Are veterans who served in the same branch at different times close?
* What is the goal of basic training, or boot camp?
* How does being in the military change a person?
* What are the origins of "Reveille" and "Taps"?
* How long does enlistment last?
* What determines deployment lengths?
* Are bonuses offered to induce people to stay in the service?
* How does pay vary?
* What are base pay and additional pay?
* What is the Individual Ready Reserve?
* Can veterans re-enlist once discharged?
* What are the types of discharge?
* What is a DD214?
* Is retiring the same as being discharged?
* What percentage of military personnel were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan?
* Has everyone deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan been in combat?
* What is the role of Veterans Affairs?
* What are veteran benefits?

Michigan State University students who created this guide are: Isaac Berkowitz, Madeline Carino, Riccardo Cozzolino, Daniel Hamburg, Tiara Jones, Lia Kamana, Katie Krall, Kary Moyer, David Reiss, Gabriela Saldivia and Darren Weiss.

We had advice and support from Detroit Public Television, which produced the videos that appear in this guide. We thank Detroit Public Television President and CEO Rich Homberg, and Senior Vice President for Content and Community Engagement Georgeann Herbert.

Experts who helped include:

Jeff S. Barnes, director of the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency with the agency's Tina Richardson, Randy D. Calloway and Kim Miller.

Nickki G. Bannister served six years in the U.S. Navy. She is founder and principal editorial consultant of Nik Scott, an "editorial relations" firm.

Cindy Burton was in the U.S. Air Force as a cryptologist linguist. She has been an editor at the Detroit Free Press for more than 16 years.

Bill Elsen worked for 33 ½ years at The Washington Post. He served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam and was a reporter in Saigon for Stars and Stripes.

Lily H. Li who has worked for The New Yorker, Money, eFinancialCareers.com, The Glass Hammer, Life and Discover as well as Newsday, the Los Angeles Times and the Dow Jones Newswires.

Brian Mockenhaupt is a contributing editor at Outside and Reader's Digest magazines, and the nonfiction editor at the Journal of Military Experience. He served two tours in Iraq as an infantryman with the 10th Mountain Division.

Mark Thompson has been covering national-security issues in Washington, D.C., since 1979, and for Time since 1994.  His reporting for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on a design problem with Fort Worth-built helicopters won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for public service.

Sarah Welliver is an award-winning multimedia photojournalist with the Elkhart Truth in Indiana. Welliver was a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. --Joe Grimm, series editor, Michigan State University School of Journalism