For many American’s, Memorial Day means the opening of swimming pools, the unofficial start of summer vacationing, barbeques with family and friends, and the annual running of the Indianapolis 500. Somewhere along the way, most of the citizenry forgot that the holiday is supposed to commemorate the men and women who died in military service for our country.

Take a look at these figures:

American Revolution (1775 to 1784)
- Participants: 290,000
- Deaths in Service: 4,000

War of 1812 (1812 to 1815)
- Participants: 287,000
- Deaths in Service: 2,000

Indian Wars (1817 to 1898)
- Participants: 106,000
- Deaths in Service: 1,000

Mexican War (1846 to 1848)
- Participants: 79,000
- Deaths in Service: 13,000

Civil War (1861 to 1865)
- Union Participants: 2,213,000
- Union Deaths in Service: 364,000
- Confederate Participants: 1,000,000
- Confederate Deaths in Service: 133,821

Spanish-American War (1898 to 1902)
- Participants: 392,000
- Deaths in Service: 11,000

World War I (1917 to 1918)
- Participants: 4,744,000
- Deaths in Service: 116,000

World War II (1940 to 1947)
- Participants: 16,535,000
- Deaths in Service: 406,000

Korean Conflict (1950 to 1955)
- Participants: 6,807,000
- Deaths in Service: 55,000

Vietnam Era (1964 to 1975)
- Participants: 9,200,000
- Deaths in Service: 109,000

Gulf War Era (1990 to TBD)
- Participants: 3,800,000
- Deaths in Service: 9,000

As you can see, literally since the birth of our Nation, no one generation of Americans has been spared the awesome responsibility of defending our freedom and way of life via show of force. Nearly 50 million American citizens—both men and women—have served our country in times of war, and close to two million have died as a result.

Don’t get me wrong… I’m not some ultra conservative, flag-waving nationalist who blindly agrees with every action our elected and military leaders choose to pursue. Like the best people I know, I believe mistakes and miscalculations have been made (especially as of late), and I accept that we do not live in a perfect nation. That having been said, on my drive back from Wyoming—where my 2-year-old daughter, Kaitlin, and I had an awesome Adventure Buddies outing—I did take lots of time to reflect just how lucky I am to have been born and raised in the USA, where the American dream (which includes entrepreneurship) lives on because of the sacrifices American servicemen and women choose to make.