Assuming 1974 as the cutoff he would have been ~19 if his current age is correct. So on the very edge of possibly being there. Say enlisted at 18 and then boot camp, etc .., but then I’m not sure when they stopped sending new troops over.
They may be stretching it to say that he was a veteran of the Vietnam-era.
Just like the “school shooting surcivor” tag. If you’re five buildings over perfectly safe, you’re a “surcivor.”
Isn’t anyone born up to the end of the war an “era veteran”? We all lived though it, right? Using the broad definition of “veteran.”