I was in the USAF during the Vietnam War, but was never involved with it. I have never referred to myself as a Vietnam Vet as it just didn't seem appropriate. Recently, I found that I am a Vet - a Vet of the Cold War.
It appears that in the 1998 National Defense Authorization Act, Secretary of Defense approved awarding Cold War Recognition Certificates to all members of the armed forces and qualified federal government civilian personnel who faithfully and honorably served the United States any time during the Cold War era, Sept. 2, 1945, through Dec. 26, 1991.
For more information and the way to get your certificate, go to this page (it seems the Army has the task of handling this for everyone qualified):
https://www.hrc.army.mil/site/active...ar/default.htm
You will probably be notified about an unknown certifying authority (
www.hrc.army.mil... duh), but since you only print out the form it shouldn't be a problem.
Jim