Welcome to Mic Drop. The podcast where relevancy is irrelevant and we don't give a shit about your feelings.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's Mike Ritland here with the Mic Drop podcast. Today we are mixing it up a little bit.

I'm going to talk about Memorial Day as it comes around this year. I don't have a guest today. It's just going to be me reflecting on my time in the service growing up in the inspirations that I had that led me to military service.

From a big picture standpoint, what Memorial Day both means to me and I think what it means to this country is from a broad perspective.

When I was growing up, I had two grandfathers, just like everybody else, strangely enough, that both of which served in World War II.

I was never a huge military buff growing up. I had some interest in history and was certainly fascinated by it, but it wasn't something that I would say overblown in terms of being into.

However, both my grandfathers, most specifically on my mom's side, served in the Navy. He was on a minesweeper in the Mediterranean that came back. There was a fleet of 98 of those ships and only two of them came home and he was on one of them.

I remember growing up, I would talk to him as much as I could about it. I was always fascinated more about some of the stories that didn't really have to do with some of the hairy shit that he got into.

I just, you know, what it was like being on a ship and what it was like back then in this country and you know, he told me stories of going to Casablanca and you know, pulling into different ports and some of those experiences that I was just always really intrigued by.

But as I got a little bit older and I started to realize the depth of what he was talking about and the scale in which that war was fought. It really peaked in interest and kind of turned, you know, I used the light switch moment a lot with dog training and with my experiences with working dogs.

But that was really my light switch moment for my inspiration to join the military as I transferred over into that is really kind of understanding the magnitude with which, you know, the service that that generation gave.

And you know, from that point on it, it really, you know, got me interested in kind of the grand scale of the United States and what our history is and how our military has evolved over the years and the price that our military has paid.

And to me, one of the biggest travesties, I think with our generation and subsequent generations is the lack of knowledge that exists as it relates to our nation's history and specifically the sacrifices that our military has paid.

You know, for it to be, you know, essentially an all voluntary force from its inception, obviously there's been drafts implemented, you know, in more than one occasion, but, but by and large, you know, if you look at the grand scope of what our military has, has done since day one, it's, it's truly remarkable that that many people have, have volunteered to serve their country.

And I think, you know, for the people that have not served and, you know, there's a certain ability to grasp, you know, what that level of dedication is to some extent, you know, that is hard to put into words, frankly, but, you know, when I look at our nation's history and think all the way back to, you know, the Revolutionary War and how it transpired and just the level of sacrifice that our military has paid.

And so, you know, I think that our, our soldiers have, have undertaken, you know, it's, it's something that I think should be the backdrop for, for our nation's temperament, you know, I think that all of us should live our lives. And this is myself included, you know, I, I don't sit here and pretend to, you know, feel that I have more appreciation than anybody else. I, I don't feel that way.

You know, there's times where I have to remind myself, you know, to, to keep that context and perspective and, in check and not get too wrapped up in the first world problems of, you know, bitching about my Starbucks not being hot enough or, you know, the internet's down for 20, 20 minutes or whatever. But, you know, but, but when I think back to, you know, again, from, from our nation's inception, you know, the level of sacrifice has been, has been truly remarkable.

You know, we all need to take a few minutes on a regular basis and remember that. And, you know, Memorial Day, you know, is something that, that I get a little frustrated with sometimes in, in saying the, the commercialization of it with sales and, you know, weekends and things like that. But, you know, one thing that I, I do, I think that that's important to, to keep in mind with that is that, you know, there's, there's an element of remembrance that, you know, it means something.

Maybe a little different for everybody. And I think, you know, one thing that I would like to offer to, to veterans out there, because I see it, you know, on a, on a fairly regular basis is where, you know, a lot of times people get pissed off at, we'll call them civilians, you know, people that maybe haven't been in the, in the service.

You know, they get pissed off because they don't know the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day and Armed Services Day. And, and, you know, they'll, people will say, thank you for your service on Memorial Day.

And, on Memorial Day and people, and, we'll get shitty with them. You know, to me, I think it's important to, to not do shit like that. You know, as, as veterans, we've got to set a better example, you know, for the type of service that we're talking about. And, and I know for most, none of us were for most of us, you know, volunteering to serve wasn't about getting thanked for it.

You know, or, or things like that, you know, the benefits that may come from being able to say that you were a veteran or, or whatever is that, you know, that that's not what drives most veterans to do it. And so keeping that in mind is that, you know, realize that, you know, people that, whether, if they thank you for your service or, you know, what have you is that they're, you know, that their intentions are sound and come from a good place. And, and I think it's jacked up to, to give them a hard time about that.

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