More than 600 troops from NATO allies and other countries have died in Afghanistan since 2001. Thousands of Afghan civilians, soldiers and police officers have also died in the war, although the precise number is unknown.
Back to the front, again For many Americans, what is most striking is that so many Marines and soldiers have died during their second or third combat tours. Of the 73 U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan since Dec. 1, at least 23 had previously served in Iraq, according to The Post's analysis. "It affirms what we already knew, which is that the burden of this very long war is being borne by a small percentage of the population," Bacevich said.
Both the Obama and Bush administrations have wrestled with how to highlight the sacrifices of the troops and, to the extent possible, share the burden with the rest of the country. During the debate last year over the Afghanistan strategy, President Obama made high-profile visits to Arlington National Cemetery and Dover Air Force Base to witness the return of fallen U.S. troops. Lawmakers, meanwhile, have repeatedly boosted pay and benefits for service members, sometimes to the consternation of the Pentagon, which has become concerned that the surging personnel costs are squeezing out money for new weapons. But the White House, Congress and the military seem broadly comfortable with the notion that a relatively small number of professional soldiers and Marines should be expected to fight multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. "There are enormous and disturbing moral implications in the tacit agreement we have made to have such a small percentage of our population bear so great a burden," Bacevich said. "But there is no recognition of it or desire to raise questions about it." For families, questions White House officials said they do not want to draw special attention to what they described as an arbitrary figure. "We mourn the loss of each and every serviceman and woman," said National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer. "The nation is indebted to them and their families for making the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our country." But as the casualty count rises, so does the number of grieving relatives who can't help question why their sons and daughters, or their spouses or parents, had to keep returning to the battlefield, tempting fate again and again. Adam K. Ginett, a 29-year-old Air Force tech sergeant from eastern North Carolina, told his family that he felt compelled by a sense of public service to serve two tours in Iraq, followed by two more in Afghanistan. An explosives and ordinance disposal specialist, he had extensive experience in the highly risky job of defusing makeshift bombs, the insurgents' weapon of choice in both war zones. When Ginett was a teenager, "I told him he'd be safer going into the Air Force, that at least he'd get a clean bed to sleep in every night," said his grandfather James Haslam, 80, a former Marine. "But he chose perhaps the most dangerous job in the military." When he was last home in July, visiting his parents in tiny Coats, N.C., Ginett was gently challenged by his mother, who wanted to know: Why do you keep volunteering to go back to the war? "It just seemed like he was always going," said his mother, Christina Kazakavage. "He said: 'Mom, it's just my turn. I gotta go.' " As he departed for the airport to return to Afghanistan, he left behind a book for his mother. Titled "Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives," it tells the story of a Marine major assigned to knock on the doors of military spouses and parents and deliver the tragic news that their loved ones had sacrificed their lives for their country. "After I read that book, I looked at my husband and said, 'He's not going to come home.' After reading that book, I just knew," Kazakavage said. "I think it was just Adam's way of preparing me." Staff writer Karen DeYoung contributed to this report.
