Assuming you've been deployed somewhere
and done more than just sit about in a van with no worries about driving over an IED at any second, I'd say you're a veteran

Whether that activity be shooting at baddies, or lugging sandbags about to stop a village getting flooded

though I imagine the latter would give you slightly fewer ptsd
(dribble, Mon 24 May 2021, 14:27, archived)

FUCK SHITPANTS NUGENT. HE IS ALL TOUGH, BUT WHEN IT WAS HIS TIME T5O HAVE BULLE4TS WIZ BY HIS HEAD, HE SHIT HIMSELF HERE AT HOME.
(dribble, Mon 24 May 2021, 14:29, archived)