No, I think you misunderstood. Military service personnel can retire after 20 years service and then move on to do other things, and still be buried in Arlington upon their death. American soldiers served in Vietnam from 65 to 75, roughly. Many Hmong soldiers served from before 61 to well after 75, even after the CIA pulled out. Just because the CIA left doesn't mean the fighting stopped. So does that then still disqualify them? The point is how do you claim "retirement" when you aren't even acknowledged for the full term of your service? When you get no benefits? Arlington is just part of that "benefit" that would have been granted to any other American soldier. The point is that some of these men did give 20 years of their lives in their service, but they have no way of claiming "retirement" officially, so what's to be done then? Should special dispensation be given to special circumstances? If you're going to recognize them for their efforts, shouldn't it be full recognition instead of some second citizen class? Because that's essentially what it is. It's being treated as second class citizens, as not equal in service as American soldiers, as their sacrifices not as worthy. And what of the ones who died while in service? If those families still had remains/ashes of those soldiers, should they be excluded from Arlington? It's not so simple as just "rules" when you're talking about only partially honored/recognized servicemen.