Vermont Veteran License Designation and Military Plates

Title 23, section 610(a) puts the word "veteran" on the face of a Vermont driver license certificate for a veteran as defined in 38 U.S.C. 101(2), including an individual disabled during active military, naval, air, or space service as defined in 38 U.S.C. 101(24), who requests the designation and provides proof of veteran status. The Office of Veterans Affairs does the confirming, and the statute names three things it can confirm: an honorably discharged veteran, a veteran discharged under honorable conditions, or an individual disabled during active military, naval, air, or space service. That third route is the one to notice. It turns on having been disabled in service rather than on how the discharge was characterized, and accounts of this benefit that say "honorable or better discharge" leave it out. Section 304(j) works the same way for plates. The Commissioner shall, upon proper application, issue special plates to Vermont veterans as defined in 38 U.S.C. 101(2), including an individual disabled during active service under 38 U.S.C. 101(24), and to members of the U.S. Armed Forces as defined in 38 U.S.C. 101(10). Eligibility is certified by the Office of Veterans Affairs. Serving members are covered as well as veterans. The plates go on vehicles registered at the pleasure car rate, on motorcycles, and on trucks registered for less than 26,001 pounds, excluding vehicles registered under the International Registration Plan. The type and style of the plates is settled between the Commissioner and the Office of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Motor Vehicles bears the cost of developing new emblems. The Office of Veterans Affairs states the plates come at no additional charge. A veteran plate is reissued only to the original holder of the plates or the surviving spouse, so a widow or widower can keep it. Section 304(k) covers deaths and draws a line that most states do not. Gold star plates go to the widow or widower, parents, and next of kin as defined in 10 U.S.C. 1126(d) of members who lost their lives in the circumstances described in 10 U.S.C. 1126(a), which is the federal gold star lapel button standard. Next-of-kin plates then go to the same family members of a service member who is not eligible for a gold star plate but who lost their life while serving on active duty or active duty for training, or while assigned to a Reserve or National Guard unit in drill status, or as a result of an injury or illness incurred during such service or assignment. A family whose service member died in a training accident, or of an illness contracted on duty, has a plate here even though the gold star standard does not reach them. A gold star or next-of-kin plate is reissued only to the original holder. Veterans organizations have a separate route under section 304(d)(2). A congressionally chartered or non-congressionally chartered U.S. military service veterans group is a service organization for special organization plates at a $21.00 special fee on top of registration, and military veterans groups are expressly excused from the 100 in-state member minimum that other service organizations must meet. Vermont issues a large family of these: the Office of Veterans Affairs and DMV describe thirteen military and veteran related plates and six combat theater plates. Purple Heart and U.S. Veteran plates are among them. The disabled veteran plate that appears in some summaries is Vermont's general disability plate under section 304a, which is issued on a physician-signed medical evaluation rather than on a VA rating. A veteran with a mobility disability applies for it the same way any other Vermonter does, and a high VA rating does not by itself qualify. No disability rating gates the veteran designation or the veteran plate.