Thank a Vet today!

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If you haven’t done so yet, stop and say thanks to a veteran in your life, says Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.). He delivered a Veteran’s Day message to Hoosier veterans, via video from Washington, D.C. And Hoosier veterans are being thanked today with ceremonies around the state, saluting those from Indian who have served from World War II, through today’s conflicts.

“We owe our deepest gratitude to the nearly 500,000 veterans who call Indiana home,” said Donnelly.

You may not have known it, but since this past year there is a difference in a veteran by federal definition, and a Hoosier veteran, as defined by the state.

“In Indiana we changed the definition of a veteran to a Hoosier veteran as anyone who has been honorably discharged from the military,” said state Rep. Randy Frye (R-Greensburg), chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, in a podcast from the State House.

“Veterans are classified by the federal government as having been deployed 180 consecutive days. And so, if you were not deployed 180 consecutive days, even if you were honorably discharged, you wouldn’t be considered a veteran,” said Frye.

Frye said that in last year’s legislative session, the state also made the Veteran’s Service Fund more accessible.

“For the last 240 years veterans have stood for freedom. We as Hoosiers owe everything to our veterans,” said Frye.