A few weeks ago I started to think about how I wanted to handle FbF going in to this year’s Memorial Day. I was, and remain, in a bit of a mood that keeps popping out of the compartment I thought I had JB Weld’d shut, but it kept cracking open.

I think that’s not all that healthy, so perhaps better to open up the compartment and let it air a bit almost 18-months after that national disgrace that was the Kabul airport.

In a Memorial Day tradition that started after the Civil War but today is usually infused with a steady supply of WWII or Vietnam War reflections, I want to be a little selfish and focus on my generation’s experience a bit if you don’t mind. I was wondering, but how?

Instead of a place or location, or something a bit too self-referential, I’ve found a cohort most readers here are a degree of separation or two from, and when I started researching saw that it that brings up an underappreciated aspect of military service that doesn’t just impact those who give their all on the field of battle – but just the every day risks we have of preparing for.