“Home of the free because of the brave.” We say that phrase often in America. It’s printed on shirts, slapped onto social media graphics once a year, and repeated in patriotic speeches every Memorial Day weekend. But somewhere along the way, many people have forgotten that it’s not just a slogan. It’s the truth. And it is a foundational belief on which the United States was built.

Freedom is not free. It never has been.

The American way of life exists because brave men and women willingly chose to stand between this country and danger. Often at great personal cost to themselves and the people who love them.

For a little context here, I’m a military brat. My dad served for 28 years as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air National Guard, and I had the honor of growing up around service members. Around sacrifice. Around people who quietly give pieces of themselves to this country without asking for recognition in return.

And this past decade has been rough for our group.

Several years ago, we lost my Uncle Chris, aka “Warf,” in a freak accident. Then we lost my Uncle Seth, “Jethro,” in a sudden overseas........

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