Rough.

I was at Barnes and Noble yesterday night, flipping through the newest edition of People Magazine that featured an overview of 2011.
  On the back couple pages is a list of the 450 soldiers that died this year in the war.  I wondered if Lucas was in there.  And he was--Daniel Lucas Elliot, 21.  I know his mother.  I got an email from her one day after Lucas died.  His humvee ran over an IED in Iraq.  I went to his funeral.
  I sat on that wooden bench up against the wall at Barnes and Noble and cried.  It is an incredible feeling to know someone, up close and personal, that had experienced one of a person's worst nightmares in regards to this war.  I know another young woman whose father was killed in Iraq five years ago.  Her husband is over in Afghanistan now.
  I am very glad Obama is bringing home the soldiers stationed in Iraq.   I am very glad that that part of the war is closing.
  I saw an interview with a Fort Bragg soldier on the news a few days ago.  It was a brief interview after Obama had given a speech on the base here in North Carolina, announcing the end of the war in Iraq.  Obama used the word "successes", but didn't use the word "victory" when describing the end of our involvement in Iraq.  The anchorman asked the soldier if that bothered him. 
   The soldier responded, "Sir, our unit did our job out there and completed our mission and now we are safely back home with our families.  That is victory enough."
  I thought that was pretty profound and really, really true. 

  My prayer for the new year--Dear God, let there not even be a list in 2012.  Please just bring them all back home safe and of sound mind.  Amen.