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You can't always ensure that no one will be offended, but what are actual, legitimate reasons someone might be offended by a portrayal?
1 - Disrespectful: For a group, like the veterans, that most people think are owed a certain base level of reverence, it may be difficult to use them in a plot at all without someone getting upset. A similarly "protected" group is religious figures, such as a priest or the Pope. There's not an easy way around this, except to treat your characters with respect, even if they are villains --don't go for cheap shots or easy laughs unless being offensive is your actual aim.
2 - Stereotypical and/or Inaccurate: This is maybe the biggest one you can directly address. Don't lean on lazy, second-hand, clichéd portrayals. As @Kirk said, do the research. Put the time in to make sure someone actually of that group has some input. If you don't know anyone of the group you're writing about, it might be time to ask yourself if you're cutting corners by inventing a character with no actual accuracy or believability. You see this particularly often when people with no close minority friends write minority characters.
3 - Prejudicial: Even worse than stereotypical or inaccurate is a portrayal that makes the reader think bad things about all people of that type. For instance you'll want to make sure that you don't do anything that implies all veterans are just one step away from turning into contract killers.
4 - Poorly done: People are willing to overlook a lot if something is done well. The Jewish and black characters in Shakespeare's plays Merchant of Venice and Othello have a lot of the faults listed above, but people give Shakespeare a little extra wiggle room because his writing is so good. Conversely, if you don't do a good job, people are more likely to be offended just based on the sheer crappiness of the work.
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