Memorial Day 2023
Memorial Day is not to "thank" Veterans that walk among us in every day life; it is the day to remember those that have fallen or are no longer with us that sacrificed their lives so we can live ours.
Please, we ask that you read as much of this as you possibly can as there is some important information that you may not know about regarding tonight’s show.
“It’s not a “Happy Holiday “! It’s to remember our dead.”
We see this time and time and time again. We’ve explained why we’ve said it even more times however, our brother and friend Mike Guardia (author of books such as Hal Moore on Leadership: Winning When Outgunned and Outnumbered, Danger Forward: The Forgotten Wars of General Paul F. Gorman, and many others that you can find at his website here) had someone question him when he posted “Happy Memorial Day Weekend” recently. In the comment section, someone said what the header of this paragraph is and Mike responded:
“We say “Happy Memorial Day” for the same reason we say “Happy Veterans Day;” “Happy Flag Day;” “Happy Armed Forces Day;” and “Happy Fourth of July.”
We say “happy” in the sense that we should be grateful for those Americans who served and made the ultimate sacrifice. And we say “happy” to celebrate their lives by honoring them on this day.”
You may think that we are biased because Mike is our brother, our friend, a part of the DVR Family. And, in some respect, you are correct. With that aside, we’ve said this numerous times (in other vernacular) many times over and seeing or hearing the word “happy” still upsets many individuals. We do not put them down for it nor do we argue. We simply answer why with a what and move on.
If we cannot be happy to celebrate the lives of those that have fought for us to live in such a beautiful Country, helped other Countries, and kept at-bay those that would tear it all down, then what are we to do? Nobody, not even us, are saying you should not mourn at this time in fact, on the contrary. We mourn and then we laugh. Why? Because our brothers & sisters done it alongside of us when they had our Six, they would want us to do the same for them today.
Being upset over saying “Happy Memorial Day” is basically the equivalent of being upset of having someone “Thank you for your Service.” Oh, that burned didn’t it? The hairs on the back of your neck stood up? Your spine stiffened a bit? You took a deep, hard sigh when you read that, right? Why? They’re thanking you for doing something they could not do (no matter their reasoning). They’re thanking you for keeping their family, their lineage safe. They’re thanking you for doing exactly why we say “Happy Memorial Day”. Is it bothersome at times? Yes. Should you be upset over it? No. Do we make jokes about “DON’T THANK ME FOR MY SERVICE!!”? Yes.
At the end of the day, Memorial Day is there to remember, mourn and to laugh. For us that Served, the latter part is true more to us than anyone else. That isn’t to say that friends and family cannot laugh alongside us as we tell tales, jokes, and talk about how idiotic we were in the barracks.
Memorial Day Barracks Party
As hard as Memorial Day can be, don’t go through it alone. Come join us!
Tonight, we will be going live at 2030/830PM EST with our annual Memorial Day Barracks Party. We’re not sure who all will show up but we know that we will have a good time. There might be a few “down” moments yet, we will laugh our asses off at stories and much more.
We’re planning to have some music from some independent artists tonight however, it will depend on whether or not they get their music sent in to us before we begin the show. (We’re waiting on you, artists!) Other than that, we’d love for you to join us, tell us your stories in the chat room, and listen to us banter about our brothers & sisters that are no longer here as we remember them.
NOTE: If you would like for us to mention someone tonight, please head here and leave it in the comments. We will get through as many names as we possibly can. If you do not use social media, leave a comment at the bottom of this Substack and we will (also) try to get through as many names as we can tonight during the Memorial Day Barracks Party.
USE YOUR RESOURCES!
DV Radio hosts tend to “beat a dead horse”, we even mentioned this in our last BARRACKS TALK. But it’s for a reason: A] Many people will wait until “they need” the resource before even looking into it. This isn’t what we want, we want you to have that resource at your fingertips, even if you do not need it. You may have a Battle that needs a resource before you need it, you can give them these resources. B] There are ALWAYS new listeners joining into our live shows and podcasts. What if they have never heard of the places we mention? What if they do not know the mission that Dysfunctional Veterans was originally created for? These are the reasons we “beat a dead horse”.
It isn’t because we get paid by these places, we don’t. We have the receipts to show it!! (That’s a joke, laugh. We don’t want to see a dime from these places. Our check is them helping our brothers & sisters.) There are a PLETHORA of Veteran resources, nonprofits, organizations and more out there exclusively geared towards helping Veterans and Veterans’ family. We have a few, that we turn to constantly, over on the Dysfunctional Veterans website. All you have to do is go over there, grab them and keep them saved (bookmark or otherwise) for a rainy day. Some of you, that are active still, may want to even show these resources to your Commanders as they may want to discuss them and use them for the Soldiers on your base, at your Unit, and otherwise.
So please, head over to the Dysfunctional Veterans website here and look over these places. We have some on the homepage as well as an entire tab entitled “VET RESOURCES” that we will be updating soon. Bookmark them, keep them at your fingertips because you never know when yourself or a Battle may need them at a moment’s notice.
More Links
Simply click on the bold titles below to find more links than you’ll ever need.