Tomorrow is Veterans Day, and anyone with a military ID and a free morning can eat for free from breakfast straight through dinner.
Denny’s is giving away an Original Grand Slam until noon. Golden Corral runs a free “Thank You” dinner starting at 4 p.m. Outback is handing out a free Bloomin’ Onion today and tomorrow, and doesn’t even ask for ID, you just tell them. Friendly’s is doing a free burger meal at all 87 locations. Great Clips is cutting hair for nothing, Target has 20% off through the 11th, and Publix knocks 10% off groceries tomorrow. That’s a sample of a list that runs past fifty offers, per a local TV roundup of company announcements published November 4.
The fine print is where it gets less festive. Most places want proof of service. Plenty are dine-in only, limited to participating locations, and exclude drinks, tax and tip. The roundup itself says to call ahead. A “free meal” that costs you a twelve-dollar tip and a drive to the one location that’s actually participating is still a decent deal. Just know what you signed up for.
I don’t have a problem with any of it. A company that wants to sell eggs on a holiday by thanking people who earned it can do that, and a pancake costs them a couple bucks while the vet’s family at the next seat orders full price. That’s marketing, and it’s also a nice gesture. Both things are true.
But a coupon is the easy way to say thanks. The harder way is the paperwork. The VA processed 3,111,399 disability claims in fiscal 2026, beating the record of 3,000,734 it set the year before, according to VA figures reported by Stars and Stripes. In July, the American Legion noted the backlog of waiting claims fell below 70,000 for the first time since February 2020.
I spend a lot of words on government waste. I wrote about the $186 billion it sent out by mistake last year, and the earmark for a museum door. Paying the people who served, and doing it quickly, is the thing the money is actually for. When an agency does that job better, it deserves to hear so.
I’m not handing out medals yet. About 60% of those claims were approved, which means a lot of veterans heard no. And fewer than 70,000 waiting still means tens of thousands of real people checking the mailbox. But the direction is right, and it’s rare enough in Washington that I’ll say it out loud.
My two cents: eat the free pancakes, then ask a veteran you know whether their claim ever went through.