Well, today is a sad milestone - with the death toll in Iraq having hit the
2000 mark for U.S military personnel.

Although our servicemen's deaths should never be made small, the losses are
very low when compared to allied losses in full-on wars of the past.

During the First World War, over 58,000 British soldiers were killed during
the battle of the Somme, nearly a third of that total on the very first day.

In the Civil War, there were over 23,000 U.S. deaths during the first day of
the battle of Antietam.

D-Day, perhaps the most important single day of the 20th century, cost 6600
U.S. lives on June 6th, 1944.

Youth lost in war is always a tragedy, but sometimes it is an expense laid
down in a noble cause.

Rick Shay
Colorado
Vietnam service '71-'73
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