What constitutes a "combat veteran" versus a veteran who deployed?

The only group (as far as I'm aware of) that has a legal definition of "combat veteran" is the Veterans Administration. They define a combat veteran as troops who have received hostile fire pay or imminent danger pay at any time during their service, earned a combat service medal, or have military service documentation that show they were in a combat theater.

If you're asking if you are a "REAL combat veteran", then I think 1SG Russell Scott pretty much summed it up - don't overthink it.

There will be those that don't consider you a REAL combat veteran unless you served a certain amount of time in a combat zone. Others don't consider you a REAL combat veteran unless you were in a firefight. Still other don't consider you a REAL combat veteran unless you were wounded.

Regarding their opinion of a "REAL combat veteran", as the saying goes everyone has one of those two things...

Here's how I understand it. Our government, alongside the military, dictates what is to be considered a combat zone. Then we get shipped to that combat zone and we do our jobs. Thus, Voila! Combat veteran. "But I was never actually in combat LT!" Yep, that's true of about 70% of all us veterans from the years 2004-2021. We still served in a combat zone though, and that's what the term means. "Combat" in this sense is fought by an army, not just the dudes with guns that go bang.

However, If you're trying to understand street-talk and what the average Joe schmo means when they say combat veteran, well then throw the book out the door. The guy or gal who pulled headcount at the DFAC and had a mortar land within a 100m of them might argue that they are in fact, a combat veteran, same as the guy who was kicking in doors for 3 months straight and ended up in Fallujah before he finally got the magic ticket that sent him home. If people want to act like they're in highscool and war is just another sport for us to play around in, then the result is mass confusion on what actually makes us a combat veteran and whether or not we're cool enough to call ourselves that. That type of talk doesn't really matter. Stick with the stipulations as set by big Army.

Outside of that, most seasoned Soldiers recognize that there is the infantry, and then there is everyone else. Certain MOS sets do the actual fighting and everyone else supports them. None are better than the other, but each have respect for each other. The rifleman doesn't pretend they won the war by themself and logistics meant nothing. And the logistic soldiers don't pretend like they're hardened killers because they shot a couple shots off the side of their humvee that one time they stopped on a patrol. At least, that's how it should be!

A lot of cooks, clerks, and jerks were never involved in a confrontation as you put it, but still are combat veterans having served in an imminent fire zone. ( Please do not respond about my mos descriptions, as that is how we talked in the age of dinosaurs)