The last time I interrupted your week (or weekend) to share with you the sad statistics on the mounting number of U.S. military casualties in Afghanistan was exactly two months ago.
In “The Faces behind the Drip-Drip of U.S. Casualties in Afghanistan,” I tried to point out how:
[I]n the national news media, the names and the numbers of our fallen heroes are often buried deep inside the bowels of the printed pages or relegated to running text at the bottom of our TV screens, and lost among the latest scandals-du-jour and the latest partisan “gotchas.”
Not much has changed in the last two months, so I will repeat what I wrote then:
Such a “drip-drip” of coverage tends to veil the gravity and the tragedy of our losses and tends to lull us into a false sense of complacency, if not downright apathy.
It’s only when some publications, such as the Stars and Stripes, publish the Associated Press summaries of our casualties along with detailed information on each of the most recent casualties, that the cumulative human aspects of those losses really hit home.
So, again, I would like to share with our readers the latest numbers, the latest sacrifices and, more importantly, some of the names and faces behind the numbers and statistics.
But before I do so—and I find it regrettable that I have to say this—I am not doing this because I am “for the war” or “against the war.”
I am not doing this because I agree or disagree with the conduct or direction of the war.
I am not doing this for any political purpose.
I am doing this because I sincerely believe that, no matter how many other “important developments” compete for our attention, we must never lose sight of, never become jaded about, the sacrifices that our brave troops continue to make in Afghanistan and—notwithstanding the fact that combat operations are supposed to have ended there—in Iraq.
First and not yet included in the AP statistics to follow, three of our troops were killed by homemade bombs today, Friday, in Afghanistan. The identities of those troops have not been released yet.
According to the Associated Press, as of yesterday, Thursday, at least 1,145 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion of that country in late 2001—at least 927 of those deaths were as a result of hostile action.
The latest casualties:
Lance Cpl. Kevin E. Oratowski, 23, of Wheaton, Ill.
Sgt. 1st Class Edgar N. Roberts, 39, of Hinesville, Ga. (Roberts died at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., of wounds sustained in Afghanistan)
Sgt. Martin A. Lugo, 24, of Tucson, Ariz.
Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Collin Thomas, 33, of Morehead, Ky.
Cpl. Christopher J. Boyd, 22, of Palatine, Ill.
Lance Cpl. Cody S. Childers, 19, of Chesapeake, Va.
Spc. Christopher S. Wright, 23, of Tollesboro, Ky.
Lance Cpl. Nathaniel J. A. Schultz, 19, of Safety Harbor, Fla.
Pfc. Alexis V. Maldonado, 20, of Wichita Falls, Texas.
Pfc. Justin B. Shoecraft, 28, of Elkhart, Ind.
Sgt. Ronald A. Rodriguez, 26, of Falls Church, Va.
Lance Cpl. Robert J. Newton, 21, of Creve Coeur, Ill.
Sgt. Jason D. Calo, 23, of Lexington, Ky.
Spc. Pedro A. Millet Meletiche, 20, of Elizabeth, N.J.
Sgt. Steven J. Deluzio, 25, of South Glastonbury, Conn.
Spc. Tristan H. Southworth, 21, of West Danville, Vt.
As I have written before, the bullet, the rocket propelled grenade, the bomb, or the IED that kills our heroes does not differentiate whether our hero is—as in this latest report—19 or 33.
Neither does it care whether the name is—as in this latest report—Oratowski, Roberts, Meletiche or Maldonado; or whether the hometown—as in the latest report—is West Danville, Vt. or Wichita Fall, Texas.
They were Army and Marine Corps; they were Rangers, SEALs, Stryker Cavalry, Armor, and Engineers—they were Americans.
They are all heroes, and don’t let anyone tell you differently.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.