Another bill passed by this year’s legislative session may go before South Dakota voters next year. A group has formed to gather petitions to refer House Bill 1179 to the voters. That bill would change the definition of a military veteran, and include many who served their time in the National Guard.

Ted Fowler of Aberdeen says the current definition of a veteran is one who served under federal command…

 

Fowler says they don’t think all military service is the same…

 

Fowler says they also have worries about an already thin pool of benefits for veterans…

 

Fowler says they plan a grass roots, low budget effort to get the signatures they need. He says they want to go well past the needed minimum of thirteen thousand five hundred signatures.

Fowler says he was drafted in 1966, and served in Viet Nam in 1967 and 68.