According to Merriam-Webster, the word “veteran” comes from a Latin adjective, veteranus, describing long experience. The first known use in English carried the meaning of an old soldier who served for a long time. But okay, let’s pretend that the original meaning isn’t valid because it was borrowed as a word describing a soldier, then shouldn’t we also go after people who call themselves “veterans” because they spent a single term of enlistment in the armed forces, and especially those who never had a tour of duty?