The phrase "alcohol was involved" says it all. Aside from a Vietnam Era veteran hanging out with a 21 year old kids socially (no offense intended) making him the brunt of jokes wasn't necessary. Obviously, he was the "outsider" of the group so what if the tables had been turned and you were the loan kilter at a party of White color executives. Would it be OK for them to make fun of your eccentricities? I gamble the story would have been written differently.

The vet probably felt a bond to you as someone who would stand alone and was not afraid to be different. So his joking was a sign of that bond.

I know you probably wanted this thread to be about a good time kilted with friends so I'm sorry for not seeing it as a good time when a fellow vet is treated this way even if he may have initiated it.