The veteran thing is strange. To a non-American the veneration of military personnel and veterans seems over-the-top to the point of self-parody. Watching the Super Bowl a couple of years ago, I wasn&#x27;t sure whether I was watching a sporting match, or Starship Troopers.<p>That said, for all the splashy thank-you-for-your-service it&#x27;s a shame but no real surprise that veterans are getting shafted, behind the scenes, by one of the largest bureaucracies in the world.