So are American lives.
When my Dad was a destroyer commander in WWII, he gave orders to re-route that ship to pick up downed pilots. It cost thousands to reroute course to pick up our airmen. Further, the rendezvous was at risk, so he had to steam at greater knots for the rendezvous to reconnoiter with the battle group.
If he had stayed in for another year, he'd have been an Admiral. My Dad was a leader of men, defended America, but was not interested in a 30 year career in the Navy. As it turned out, our steel company delivered hundreds of thousands of tons of steel to Bath, ME Brooklyn, NY, and Electric Boat, CT shipyards.
Rule of thumb here, remember, there are a lot of us old farts who have been down many roads, and many personal and accurate historical stories and events to relate.
IMOHO
C'mon cobra. You have been here since 2001. You have read my posts and know where I stand when it comes to the military personel.
Do I have to now preface every post with disclaimers?
Maybe. Next time I should post:
"The American military lives that were lost are irreplaceable, and we should find out how this happened so as to avoid this kind of loss in the future. This equipment costs billions and to just run into a underground mountain suggests the technology is flawed."
Is that okay with you?