The Stories We Have a Duty to Carry

There are many things I am proud of about what we're building at Reflekta. The technology. The extraordinary people who have come together around a shared vision. The belief that every human life is a story worth preserving.

But perhaps nothing makes me prouder than the work we are doing to honor our veterans, particularly through our relationship with the Round Canopy Parachuting Team – USA.

Because when I think about why Reflekta exists, I often find myself thinking about the men and women who have served our country. And about how much of their lives, their experiences, and their humanity we stand to lose if we don't make the effort to remember.

History tells us what happened. Stories tell us what it meant to be there.

History can tell us where a battle was fought, how many soldiers were deployed, and when a war finally ended. But it cannot tell us what a 19-year-old was thinking as he boarded a plane bound for a country he'd never seen. It cannot capture the sound of a mother's voice in a letter from home, the friendship between two soldiers who had nothing else in common, or the quiet moment when someone realized that the world they knew would never be the same.

Those stories live within people. And when those people are gone, too often the stories go with them.

This is what makes our work with the Round Canopy Parachuting Team – USA so meaningful to me.

Through their remarkable efforts to honor the sacrifices of those who served, including commemorations on the historic ground of Normandy, they remind us that remembrance is not a passive act. It requires commitment. It requires showing up. It requires us to care enough about the past to keep it alive for the future.

At Reflekta, we believe we have a role to play in that same mission.

Not simply preserving the dates and details of someone's military service, but preserving the person who lived it. Their voice. Their humor. Their fears and triumphs. The lessons they carried home. The life they built afterward.

Because a veteran is so much more than the uniform they once wore. And their story is so much larger than the war in which they served.

This mission is also deeply personal to me.

My father served in the United States Army in Vietnam. My grandfather served in the United States Navy during both World War II and the Korean War.

Three wars. Two generations. Two men whose service forms part of the history of my own family.

I think about the extraordinary sweep of history contained within those two lives. The places they went. The things they witnessed. The world events they experienced firsthand. And everything they carried forward into their lives as fathers, husbands, and family members.

I also think about all the questions that families, including my own, don't always think to ask until it is too late.

What was it really like? What frightened you? What gave you hope? Who did you become because of what you experienced?

And perhaps the most important question of all: What do you want us to remember?

I believe every family deserves the opportunity to ask those questions. And every veteran deserves the opportunity to answer them, in their own words and in their own voice.

I also want to take a moment to recognize someone who makes our work at Reflekta especially meaningful: my colleague and friend, Wells Jones.

Wells is a veteran himself, and his service, dedication, and commitment to honoring those who came before him represent so much of what I admire about the military community.

Wells, thank you for your service. Thank you for the example you set. And thank you for helping us understand that what we are building at Reflekta can serve a purpose far greater than technology alone.

It can become an act of gratitude.

I love the idea that a child born a hundred years from now might one day sit down and have a conversation with a great-grandparent who served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan. Not merely read their name on a monument or look at a faded photograph, but hear their voice, understand their experiences, and discover something about the person behind the history.

Imagine what that connection could mean.

Imagine what we might learn.

We often speak about the debt of gratitude we owe our veterans. And it is a debt we can never fully repay. But I believe part of honoring their service is ensuring that their experiences are not lost to time.

Not because every story is heroic in the traditional sense. Some are painful. Some are complicated. Some are about extraordinary bravery, while others are about ordinary people doing their best under unimaginable circumstances.

All of them deserve to be heard.

On this Veterans Day, I want to express my deepest gratitude to every man and woman who has worn our nation's uniform. To those who returned home. To those who did not. To the families who waited, worried, sacrificed, and carried their own burdens of service.

And to the veterans who are still with us, I hope we remember something important:

Your service is part of our history. But your life is so much more than your service. And we want to know your story.

At Reflekta, we often talk about preserving the past for the generations who will follow us. Today, that mission feels especially sacred. Because one day, the last living witnesses to the great events of our time will be gone. The voices will fall silent. The firsthand memories will fade.

But the stories don't have to.

We cannot give back the years. We cannot undo the sacrifices. And we can never fully know what another person endured in service to their country. But we can listen. We can remember. And we can make a promise that the lives behind the history will never be forgotten.

To all who served: thank you. Your stories are part of who we are. And it is our privilege to help carry them forward.

Adam Drake
Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer
Reflekta