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  engineer4 months, 4 weeks ago

  The passing of the 4,000th service member in Iraq is a tragic milestone and a testament to the cost of this war, but for those of us who live and fight in Iraq, we measure that cost in smaller, but much more personal numbers. For me those numbers are 8, the number of friends and classmates killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 3, the number of soldiers from my unit killed in this deployment. I'm 25, yet I've received more notifications for funerals than invitations to weddings.

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    engineer4 months, 4 weeks ago

    The number 4,000 is too great to grasp even for us that are here in Iraq. When we soldiers read the newspaper, the latest AP casualty figures are glanced over with the same casual interest as a box score for a sport you don't follow. I am certain that I am not alone when I open up the Stars and Stripes, the military's daily paper, and immediately search for the section with the names of the fallen to see if they include anyone I know. While in a combat outpost in southwest Baghdad, it was in that distinctive bold Ariel print in a two-week-old copy of the Stars and Stripes that I read that my best friend had been killed in Afghanistan. No phone call from a mutual friend or a visit to his family.

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  texangelwings4 months, 4 weeks ago

  This is so sad! Prayers for all of our soldiers, to be given the strength to survive this illegitimate war!

  Thanks engineer!

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  ML20074 months, 4 weeks ago

  The Lt. eloquently wrote what, I am sure, many soldiers would like to have expressed to all United States citizens. He is right that one of the biggest differences between the Iraq war and the Vietnam war was the draft, but he implied that because Iraq involves an all volunteer army, there may not be similarities. I volunteered to serve during the Vietnam era as did thousands of others like me. We were young, patriotic, and innocent for the most part. We early on believed in the war. I did not believe in the end. I support the Lt. and all our troops daily praying for their return. I have not supported the war itself from the beginning because I feel it is a war that should never have been fought in the first place, and it is a war that most likely can never be won. All of our troops deserve a good reason for being in Iraq, but exactly what is it? Freedom for Iraqis? WMDs? Democracy? Oil? Terrorists? All of these arguments have all been debated. So, why?

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  BoxMonkey4 months, 3 weeks ago

  Well , I have to say at least , I mean at least 15 of those soldiers were from the area I live in . Starting with one of the first casualities Nathan Brown . An RPG blew away his tank and my co-worker Mark was there to hold his friends lifeless body . What a friggin' bitch . This war has to end . And soon .

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    PsychoHosebeast4 months, 3 weeks ago

    Not to sound like Dick Cheney... but what do people think is going to happen when they join the military? You're their to kill, and to die. The notion of "serving your nation" is noble and all, however, it's also a pantload. You're there to do what someone else tells you to do, whether you agree or not. And that someone is quite often sitting someplace miles from harm, and views human beings as game pieces--expendable to the last one.

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      BoxMonkey4 months, 3 weeks ago

      So , what are you saying PyshoHosebeast ? If our military was there to catch and kill Sadam , that took place . So good men died to that purpose . But to linger on ,when this country of peoples cannot come to terms , well quite frankly , that's thier problem , not my neighbors son or daughters . Or let the U.N. get invovled . We as a country are NOT the world police . That is the job Of N.A.T.O. or the U.N. BTW - most of these kids signed up in peacetime for a college education , coming from small towns that don't offer or cannot give these services because of circumstances beyond thier control . And they have done as they are told , to go to war despite thier original intentions . This war needs to end . At least our participation in it .

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  chevydog4 months, 3 weeks ago

  A great deal of eloquence in this. Perhaps the biggest question is "Why?". The rationale for this episode, always shaky, has been continually evolving since Day 1. Seems to me that it's coming down to a statement by a small number of people "We're doing it because we wanna."

  In bits and pieces from various sources, we've been finding out that many of the "slam dunk" reasons we were given just didn't exist. Yes people can make mistakes--it's part of being human. But it's also part of being human to admit error or at minimum to quietly rectify it. Don't see any of this going on in Washington today--quite the reverse in fact.

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  PsychoHosebeast4 months, 3 weeks ago

  If 4000 in five years is too much for a soldier to grasp (odd that the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis don't seem beyond their ken), then said soldier is lucky not to have fought in World War Two, where 4000 may die in a few minutes. Don't people think before they join the military?

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    BoxMonkey4 months, 3 weeks ago

    Why don't you think b-4 you run your mouth .

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    chevydog4 months, 3 weeks ago

    psycho-- How many 20 year olds do you know who can even grasp the concept that they'll die someday? Most people in normal life don't hit that wall until at least their 40's.

    Also, in WWII one could believe that one was fighting for the preservation of civilization (at least as we then knew it). The present conflict is of dubious justification for a dubious cause and promoted by leaders of dubious quality. IMHO, one could excuse a young person for not much caring whether he/she was involved or not.

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  Charlson4 months, 3 weeks ago

  Sad and poignant. And the question has to be asked, over and over...WHY?

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  triizine4 months, 3 weeks ago

  The thing that angers me is the fact that our soldiers are not fighting and dieing for our country, they're doing it for a people that won't get off their asses to take care of themselves.

  The terrorists are not in Iraq, they're in Afghanistan, and always have been. Iraq was and is a distraction from the war on terror. While our troops are dieing in Iraq, the terrorists are getting stronger elsewhere in the world, and are laughing at us.

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