After a brief break as the team grappled with life, we're baaaaack... to grapple with the topic of meritocracy in the military. Meritocracy has been in the news recently, with shout-outs on the main DoD website and in the new SecDef's most recent book. When a recently-published short journal artice on meritocracy caught our eyes, we decided to read it and focus an episode on our thoughts on what a meritocracy is and whether the US military is one - on air. Full disclosure - we don't stay on topic, and if you're looking for a coherent overview of the article itself, you will be disappointed. =) (Article here in case anyone is interested: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661324003292.)