Mike Brewer

I was looking over a forward from a friend of mine today, and I ran across this website.

http://www.americanfamilytraditions....casualties.htm

It's a site that lists the total number of servicemembers in each war in American history, along with the number of war dead and wounded. Something that struck me as oddly comforting is that, throughout US military history, in each conflict of comparable duration, we have managed to reduce the percentage of servicemembers wounded and killed in combat. In other words, every time we have to make the regrettable decision to go to war as a nation, we have managed to keep a higher number of our men and women safer, bring a higher percentage home, and return a higher number to their families than in the previous conflict(s).

We mourn our dead as a nation, but we should also recognize that we've accomplished a lot in terms of making their missions more successful, and making sure they come home at the end of the mission. Try and remember the staggering numbers of casualties in World War II, or the huge percentage of dead and wounded in the US Civil War next time some news report talks about the "huge numbers of Americans killed in Iraq."

And no matter where you stand on the war (or any other war for that matter), be thankful that these brave men and women were willing to go in your place.