The Word "Veteran" on Your Licence — At Initial Application, Renewal or Duplicate
Anyone who served in the active armed forces including the Coast Guard, and any Guard or Reserve member who completed a term of service and was released under an honorable or a general under honorable conditions discharge, may ask for an operator’s licence or personal identification card bearing the word "veteran". The request can be made at initial application, at renewal, or on a duplicate, and six specific documents are accepted as proof.
Verified August 23, 2026
What this benefit is
Anyone who served in the active armed forces including the Coast Guard, and any Guard or Reserve member who completed a term of service and was released under an honorable or a general under honorable conditions discharge, may ask for an operator’s licence or personal identification card bearing the word "veteran". The request can be made at initial application, at renewal, or on a duplicate, and six specific documents are accepted as proof.
What it's worth: The word "veteran" on the face or back of the licence or ID card, in the cabinet’s chosen style
- The subsection sets no fee of its own. Whatever the ordinary charge is for the transaction you attach the request to — initial application, renewal or duplicate — is what applies, and it was not read this session.
- The designation is a proof of status. Nothing in the subsection makes it a gate for any other Kentucky benefit.
Who is entitled to it
- The designation goes on the credential of the person who served.
- Your discharge is inside the subsection.
- You are in this state.
Not sure whether that describes you?
Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.
How to claim it
- 1Attach the request to a transaction you were doing anyway. KRS 186.416(4)(a) allows it at initial application, at renewal, or on a duplicate — you do not have to wait for the credential to expire.
- 2Bring one of the six accepted documents, in original or copy: an unexpired Veteran Identification Card or Veteran Health Identification Card from the federal veterans department; a DD-2, DD-214, DD-256 or NGB-22 form; or an unexpired Geneva Conventions Identification Card from the Department of Defense.
- 3A Guard or Reserve member is expressly inside the subsection, provided the member completed the term of service and was released, separated, discharged or retired under an honorable or general under honorable conditions discharge.
- 4The Coast Guard is named in the subsection rather than left to inference, so a Coast Guard veteran does not need to argue the point.
- 5Do not expect a particular look. The cabinet decides the style and format and may place the word on the face or the back of the credential.
- 6Bring the cleanest copy you have. The subsection expressly relieves the cabinet of liability for fraudulent or misread forms, which means a marginal document is the applicant’s problem, not the counter’s.
- 7If you are stationed outside the state, the same section is the one that lets you renew a Class D licence by mail and add a motorcycle endorsement electronically, and lets a personal designee apply on your behalf.
- Form
- The ordinary licence or personal identification card application, with the designation requested
- File with
- Transportation Cabinet, through the licensing office
- Documents you will need
- dd214
- At each renewal
- Claimed again whenever the underlying licence or registration renews.
Sources
Why only one source type: The Transportation Cabinet’s own driver licensing pages are edge-blocked from this network, as is the state veterans department, so no operating page could be read to sit beside the statute. The subsection is self-executing on its face: it names the eligible service, the moments the request can be made, and the exact documents accepted.
This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.