When Police Pull Over A Veteran

[Coyotesfan97]

It mattered to me. It took more for me to write a veteran than a non-veteran. I also had a higher bar to write someone with a CDL, because a moving violation punishes a CDL holder more than a non-CDL driver.

Firefighters, ER Nurses and Doctors, and veterans had the same higher bar with me. I don’t remember writing a CDL holder but I knew it’d hammer them more than a random driver. I never wrote another cop unless there was an accident or something similar where I had to. I do have to say there were several cops with attitudes I almost wrote and frankly probably should’ve.

[JRB]

....It makes me sad that Veterans would want to conceal their Veteran status...

I have mixed feelings about it. I'm proud to have done what little I have, but so many have done so much more and given so much more than I have...
Makes me feel awkward honestly when folks show me a lot of love about it. All I can think about are the Gold Star families and the crying wives and family at funerals. I wish those folks would show those families that love, not me. I'm one of the lucky ones.

Here in TX, seems like half of the cars on the road have Veteran tags. DFW airport waives parking fees for most Veteran plates.. Handicap Veterans and any Veteran plate bearing a listed service medal. Even a "Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal" gets free parking at DFW.

A veteran buddy of mine -my first unit's combat medic- lives in San Antonio now. I was joking with him about all the various special Texas award plates out there, and we joked about seeing if he could get a 'Certificate of Achievement' or 'Military Atta-boy' vanity plate.

[TQP]

I'm was a stinkin' reservist from 85-93. The only danger I was ever in was my own driving. Once on the way home from AT at Ft Riley on no sleep , once on Reforger 86, because you couldn't let stinkin' reservists have crypto, so we didn't get the wordthat it was condition black and everything was cancelled. Did a complete 360 on an ice-covered 2 lane road and by sheer luck didn't kill all 3 of us.

I only have the vet ID on my license because I used my DD214 as one of the 27 pieces of documentation that you needed for a real ID when that was a thing. I don't identify as a vet unless I need to unmask and make fun of some Air Scout. PS anyone got any good Space Force jokes?

People act the same way toward firefighters, and it makes me just as uncomfortable as the vet stuff, so I don't out myself as a (now retired) firefighter either. I got to have an awesome career that I loved, and you paid me to do it. I should be thanking you.

I'm going to have to remember that line.

I have mixed feelings about it. I'm proud to have done what little I have, but so many have done so much more and given so much more than I have...
Makes me feel awkward honestly when folks show me a lot of love about it. All I can think about are the Gold Star families and the crying wives and family at funerals. I wish those folks would show those families that love, not me. I'm one of the lucky ones.




A veteran buddy of mine -my first unit's combat medic- lives in San Antonio now. I was joking with him about all the various special Texas award plates out there, and we joked about seeing if he could get a 'Certificate of Achievement' or 'Military Atta-boy' vanity plate.

I mean Ohio has a superman plate, so why the heck not? That's not the current plate, now it says 'Ohio the birthplace of Superman' . Apparently Truth, Justice, and the American Way is out of fashion.

[Redhat]

As a veteran, I think I would be pretty embarrassed if I was pulled over for doing something stupid to expect anything. No way I'd bring it up to the officer.

[fatdog]

Mrs. Fatdog does not have a heavy foot, so not part of a plan to get out of tickets. I don't think she has been pulled over in more than a decade at least. But last car she bought she finally opted for the veterans tag after bypassing it for a couple of cars and not wanting to do it.

Last summer she got into a minor traffic crash with no injuries. The tag prompted the state trooper who wrote up the report to engage her about where she had been, and it turned out they had a near overlap of their tours in A'stan, that lead to a much longer conversation, just vet to vet stuff. No break needed, she wasn't getting a ticket for anything anyway, but the whole "met a fellow vet" thing and getting to talk to somebody who had trod the same ground made her pretty happy that he brought it up.

I think that one experience convinced her to keep buying these in the future.

[uechibear]

I always try to go low profile with non-descriptive plates and a non-descriptive white SUV, just like all the other vehicles on the road. But, I guess with all the Corvette stuff in your sig line, that you're not really going low profile.

That's correct.

Paradoxically, I'm a very private person, but the vanity plate on my next Corvette will be meant to spark conversation and/or attract people to my website.

As I posted before, it'll be a regular NH vanity plate. This was my last one, which was a "vet 'vette" plate.

[BN]

That's correct.

Paradoxically, I'm a very private person, but the vanity plate on my next Corvette will be meant to spark conversation and/or attract people to my website.

As I posted before, it'll be a regular NH vanity plate. This was my last one, which was a "vet 'vette" plate.

I hope that you're just there for the photo op, and you're not going to drive down that muddy road.

[45dotACP]

Firefighters, ER Nurses and Doctors, and veterans had the same higher bar with me. I don’t remember writing a CDL holder but I knew it’d hammer them more than a random driver. I never wrote another cop unless there was an accident or something similar where I had to. I do have to say there were several cops with attitudes I almost wrote and frankly probably should’ve.

More than a few nurses I know got let off easy because they were in scrubs.

I never had need to test that theory, save for one time when I was still in nursing school and the officer who pulled me over (for going too fast, yes) was writing me up and his name badge looked familiar. So I say "Hey, officer so-n-so, I have a nursing professor so-n-so at such-n-such University" thinking he'll let me off easy and I'll drive right off into the sunset.

Well officer so-n-so looks like he just swallowed a whole lemon, fixes me with a humorless look and says "Yeah...she's my ex-wife"

I just laughed and said "well, how much is the ticket then sir?"

He let me off with a warning though. I thought I detected the slightest chuckle at my wisecrack, but it was dark out.

[El Cid]

I always try to go low profile with non-descriptive plates and a non-descriptive white SUV, just like all the other vehicles on the road. But, I guess with all the Corvette stuff in your sig line, that you're not really going low profile.

My daily driver is typically low key, regular tag, no stickers, etc. But when I had a turbo Supra, or before it, a Saleen Mustang, they had vanity tags. They were going to stand out anyway. lol!

Tangent

In TX you can get a Radio Operator plate with your HAM call sign.
Actually, you can have multiple of the same plate on more than one vehicle, which is kind of interesting.

However, I'm not sure why anyone would have their call sign on their license plate, since you can simply google it and find out the address registered to the owner, since FCC data is public domain.

Had a couple buddies who were amateur radio operators in Virginia. They told me their tags allowed them to re-enter an area after a disaster before most folks because the government wanted radio operators in there to establish comms. Of course that was before the internet and cellphones were anything close to what they are today.

[uechibear]

I hope that you're just there for the photo op, and you're not going to drive down that muddy road.

For two years and 16k miles, I never drove my C8 down a dirt road, even avoiding one of my brother's houses entirely.

I'm going to try and loosen up a bit with my ERay (which is being built this month), and even plan on driving it in the snow — if for no other reason than to get some YouTube footage. The main thing I want to avoid is road salt.