Is it 'sweet and fitting' to die in war?

According to The Associated Press, some 1,843 American soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001.

Just this month, we lost Spc. Alex Hernandez III, 21, of Round Rock, Texas, who died on May 12 in Kandahar; Sgt. Wade D. Wilson, 22, of Normangee, Texas, who died May 11 in Helmand Province; 1st Lt. Alejo R. Thompson, 30, of Yuma, Ariz., who died May 11 in Bagram; and Petty Officer 2nd Class Jorge Luis Velasquez, 35, of Houston, who died May 12.

These young soldiers, so far from home, so far from mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers, died during the wind-down of the war in Afghanistan. But what does that matter to those who loved them?

These fallen soldiers join thousands of other young men and women who died in Iraq and in Afghanistan in the last decade. They left behind families and jobs and all the joys and sorrows that comprise a 20-year-old’s life to do their duty, to take up a fight they were told was just and necessary.

Since this country launched its attack against Iraq in March 2003, over nine years ago, we have reaped what we have sown: violent death and unending grief. We remain engaged in Afghanistan, a war that has seen surges and withdrawals and no real evidence that we won’t someday look over our shoulders as we leave and see chaos in our wake.

What will make the gains, if there are any, worth the losses? Who will give these brave and loyal 19- and 20-year-olds back their lives? Who will restore peace of mind to combat-weary soldiers who have left the battleground but still fight depression and anxiety? Who will make whole the more than 15,000 bodies that have been torn apart by bombs in Afghanistan alone?

And what of the civilian deaths? One of our generals said of the collateral damage, “We don’t do body counts.” But after years of bombings and shootings and raids, the number of dead Iraqi and Afghan civilians is said to run into the hundreds of thousands, although no one knows for sure.

On this Memorial Day, let us consider the four men listed above who died in the first two weeks of this month.