I believe what people say is the US has technically not been at war since WWII, since everything since then has not gotten the approval of Congress, so has been a “military operation,” not a war.

However I was taking a look at the VA pension benefits, and they define “wartime periods” as including the Korean War, Vietnam War and Persian Gulf War/Iraq and Afghanistan operations. This of course leaves out things like Grenada, Panama, Haiti, and also instances where US troops were part of UN/NATO troops, like Yugoslavia.

Since technically these conflicts have the same status as larger conflicts like the Korean and Vietnam wars, why aren’t they treated the same way? Why are some military operations considered “wars” while some aren’t, even though neither have congressional authorisation? Is it really just subjective thinking since clearly the Vietnam War represents a much larger conflict and went on for longer than Grenada, so can more accurately be called a “war” - even though there’s no definition really to back up that assertion?

Idk maybe there’s no answer. Just something I noticed and was wondering if anyone knows if there is a reason for this.