As the number of US deaths in Iraq grows, the media has focused its attention on the totality of casualties.  We hear very night that over 3,100 men and women have given their lives on the battlefields of Iraq.  And while we need to remember that freedom comes with a price and it’s important that we know what this war is costing, a number isn’t enough.  Each of those 3,100 men and women has a name, a family and they deserve to be honored individually as well as collectively. 

The men and women serving in Iraq know firsthand the pain of losing a comrade in arms during war.  They have seen their friends, their fellow soldiers killed.  They have had to say goodbye to those they served with and fought with.  For the men and women who have served in Iraq, deaths are not measured by a number used on the nightly news, but by the number of memorials they have attended. 

When a service member is killed his or her body is sent home for the funereal and burial honors.  When we think of those who have die din Iraq we may most often think of a traditional military funereal.  A flag draped casket, a twenty-one gun salute, presenting a flag to the family.  But there is also another memorial for those who have given their lives.  The men and women of the unit who have lost one of their own also need to be able to say goodbye.  Memorials in the field are just as important and just as moving as those back home.   

There are a number of traditions involved in war time memorials.  The deceased weapon is inverted and stuck in the ground.  His helmet is set atop the butt of the weapon, his dog tags hand down.  Often his boots are placed on the ground beside the weapon.  At a formal memorial the chaplain will speak and offer prayers.  A record of the life of the fallen service member will be read, who he was, where he was from, where he served, the honors he received, how he died.  The friends of the fallen will have a chance to stand up and tell the others about their friend.  They share stories, some funny, some sad about a man or woman who has made the ultimate sacrifice.  Each member of the unit will pass by the memorial, touch the helmet or dog tags, and say their own goodbyes.   Then they pick up their weapons and return to the fight.  The true cost of freedom is measured not by statistics, but by each individual name etched in stone.