Do you hold an honorable (or general under honorable conditions) discharge, but DON’T have any sort of identification that proves your veteran status? If so, you’ve probably been frustrated by the various businesses that offer discounts or other benefits to veterans but require some form of formal “veteran ID”. The Department of Veterans Affairs now provides a free digital Veteran ID Card, which you can keep on your phone or other mobile device (or print and laminate, if you like). You’ll need:
- Your Social Security number
- A digital copy of your DD214, DD256, DD257, or NGB22 that you can upload. This could be in a .pdf, .jpeg, or .png file format. (If you don’t have a scanner, you can take a picture of it with your phone, as long as it’s readable.)
- A copy of a current and valid government-issued ID, such as a driver’s license, passport, or state-issued identification card. (Again, take a picture of it with your phone — as long as it’s readable.)
You’ll also need a digital color photo of yourself from the shoulders up. The photo should follow all these standards (you can put your smartphone camera into ‘square mode’):
- Show a full front view of your face and neck (with no hat, head covering, or headphones covering or casting shadows on your hairline or face), and
- Be cropped from your shoulders up (much like a passport photo), and
- Show you with your eyes open and a neutral expression, and
- Be taken in clothing you’d wear for a driver’s license photo, and
- Be a square size and have a white or plain-color background (with no scenery or other people in the photo), and
- Show what you look like now (a photo taken sometime in the last 10 years), and
- Be uploaded as a .jpeg, .png, .bmp, or .tiff file
Once you have all that stuff, hit the VA link above and follow the application directions. You should receive your digital Veteran ID Card in short order; you can then save it to your device (usually in the Photos collection) and have it at your fingertips. I’ve used mine quite often without a hitch; it’s come in handy several times when visiting a new store or restaurant and seeing a “military discount” sign for the first time...