It's that time.

It's lock and load.

The Michael Verishow is on the air.

Today is Memorial Day.

The day that we as a nation honor the men and women who have died serving this country.

Today's show will be a little different.

You can probably tell by my tone.

Today we're going to play some of the best Memorial Day speeches that we could find and we have scoured.

This moving speech was given by veteran of the Iraq War, Sergeant Raymond Hubbard back in 2008.

Hearing how he connected with his father, a Vietnam veteran, I hope this gives you a new perspective on the brotherhood of combat soldiers.

To be honest, when George Bowman, my fellow Patriot, bestowed this honor upon me, it took all my will to not back down.

Unring the fallen is something so very personal that I didn't think I could share my own grief.

But if I was the first person to ask, then it was my duty to not let this burden fall on someone else's already heavy heart.

There have been 1.6 million U.S. soldiers that have served in the combat theater in the Middle East since 2001.

That is 0.5% of the current U.S. population.

If you compare that to the 2% of the populace that served in Vietnam or the 12% that fought in World War II, this seems to be a minor incident.

As of March 17, 2008, there have been over 4,000 U.S. fatalities from Operation Iraqi Freedom, with approximately 74 of them officially declared Wisconsin's sons and daughters.

Now, I stand up here and throw all these numbers, and you, my friends, my neighbors, either reacted with a sorrowful sigh or a desensitized disdain.

And if you did so react, it's not your fault.

It's hard to feel grief, compassion, anger, for over a 5-year period of time.

It's hard to feel anything at all when only numbers are flashed across the street screen or spoken from a podium.

Numbers are not faces, numbers are not people, numbers are not names of loved ones.

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