Thank you for your deeply moving message. When you wrote that the average age of the deceased was 19-years-old, I could not help but remember the famous Life Magazine article on the war dead of Vietnam which included black and white pictures of the fallen. Many Americans were heartbroken at the youthful faces in those pictures. I think that many were confronted for the first time with the unforgiving reality of war and the incredible sacrifices those young men -- all of them -- made.

Please know that I am truly proud of your service.