[sarasmom]

I read several of your posts and I did not get the impression you were anything but a concerned citizen.What I was trying to point out to you was that the deaths of US servicemen are not the same personal losses everyone suffers in life.Nor should they ever be.

All of us will die.There is a difference in how and why people die.I will gladly die of old age, if I can, as would anyone.But I would ask on behalf of those who die in war,that you understand their deaths are felt beyond their family and friends.And that their sacrifice is truly that,and not an error someone might have made.

At some point, you must allow that the warriors have a right to grieve thir own.Those who risk thier lives for us all must be allowed their own rules of grief and judgement.It is a very exclusive club,by design.The dues are steep.If you have not paid the price,do not expect entree.Members do not recruit.

[Illbay]

I do not disagree with anything you're saying. I humbly submit that the belief that "only a vet" can understand any of this is a trite truism. I think there are a lot of things that non-participants in whatever field of human endeavor you care to name, can share in vicariously.

This war is our common national experience. And "they also serve who only stand and wait."