Memorial Day: What It Means To Us

Reflections on honoring military service members from Sr. Compensation Consultant and former Sergeant in the U.S. Army, Anthony Roethel, and Portfolio Manager and former Specialist (Promotable) in the U.S. Army, Nick Haupt.

Memorial Day will be observed in the United States on Monday May 29th.

On this day, we honor service members who made the ultimate sacrifice for the protection of our country. On this day and most days, we are reminded of the fellow soldiers, friends, brothers, and sisters we served with who made this sacrifice and how the world is a better place because of them. While we were assigned to the same unit, we did not know all of them deeply personally as we did with fellow soldiers on our team, squad, or platoon. Most of our interactions were in training exercises at a company or battalion level. Still, there was a recognition among peers of a unit that we were in this fight together. They would have had our backs in an instant, just as we would have their back. This camaraderie and sense of duty to our country was put to the test in real-life deployments to Bosnia, Kuwait, and Iraq. During these deployments, we can't tell you how impressed we were with our fellow soldiers and the professional manner in which they served their country. While we lost some great soldiers and even better people during these deployments, we take a moment every Memorial Day to celebrate them and thank their families for the ultimate sacrifice they made. That is the bond we shared; we stood by each other joined in the same purpose of defending our nation.

Thinking about this also reminds us of a tradition performed in memorial services for fallen soldiers known as the final or last roll call. For those not familiar, roll call is the process of checking for attendance. A military leader will call a list of names, with each soldier responding in recognition of their presence. In the final roll call, the military leader will call the list of names as they normally would. When they reach the name of the fallen soldier, they call out the soldier's rank and last name. With no reply, they call out the soldier's rank, first and last name. Again, with no reply, they call out the soldier's rank & full name. Again, with no reply, "Taps" is played in acknowledgment of the soldier's death.

Please join us this year for the?National Moment of Remembrance.?This annual event asks Americans, wherever they are?in the world on Memorial Day?at?3:00 pm?local time,?to pause for?one?minute?to remember those who have died in military service to the United States.