There’s some good news this Veterans Day for vets who live in California: Starting Thursday, the state will offer a special new “veteran” designation on driver’s licenses. Advocates hope that will make it easier to find appropriate care for veterans who are injured or arrested.
It’s only a small addition to driver’s licenses: the word “veteran” next to the organ donor sticker. But to Vietnam-era Navy vet Donald Fields, it’s a quick and easy way to identify himself – without carrying his military discharge certificate everywhere.
“If you want to get some free food or whatever, benefits that they have, you need to dig in and find your DD 214, which – you know, it’s a copy that you have to find to make sure that you put in the same place all the time,” Fields says. “So now, in the back of your wallet, you’ll have this designation and it’s just fantastic.”
The program was established under a law signed last year. Vets can take discharge certificates to their County Veteran Service Officer to get a Veteran Status Verification Form and then make an appointment with the DMV and take that verification form in. It costs an extra $5 on top of other driver’s license fees.
This story was produced by Capital Public Radio.