It would take an expert in the field to be able to give us an approximate estimate on how many American lives have been lost because of all the wars we have been involved in since the formation of our country. It would be a very large number of lives to say the least. We have fought some wars that we could not avoid and some wars that have been controversial to many of our citizens. Wars between countries are just a sad fact of life that happens and people always die when ever there is one.

Sending our young men and women to far away places that put them in harms way is a tragedy in itself. Many of them leave the shores of our country to defend our freedom or give other people theirs and they never get to come back home to enjoy what they went to fight for. It is truly the ultimate sacrifice.

Many times our troops have been sent to places where they are really only peace keepers and sometimes their lives are less at risk than others. Then are times when they are sent to countries, most recently Iraq, where they are under fire immediately and put in danger from the very beginning. This just comes with the territory of being a United States soldier. Everyone knows when they enlist in any branch of our military that there is always a possibility of being deployed somewhere that they could be placed in jeopardy.

For every parent who has a son or daughter in the military, the thought of having a war break out somewhere is terrifying for them. Even though they realize in their mind that it is the duty of those in the military to respond when called to a war or crisis somewhere else, that knowledge and belief will do very little to appease their hearts when it comes to facing the fact that their son or daughter might never come back home.

Then there are the wives, husbands, and children of all our soldiers to consider. They probably suffer the most besides the soldiers themselves. The daily agony of wondering whether or not that loved one is safe and still alive or not has to be heart wrenching to say the least. Being respectful to these soldiers and their families is so important whether we agree with the reasons that they are deployed to any particular place or not. They deserve to be recognized and appreciated immensely for the duties they perform and the sacrifices that they make no matter what our personal opinions are about why they happen to be where they are.