War death toll is old news, but ...

Americans dying on foreign soil is old news. Day after day the count continues upward without relief or any end in sight. Most recently two men who went to Sheridan High School together died in Afghanistan. Here's the Advocate report.

Day after day and month after month, more people die. Real people with real parents, spouses, children and friends. Many thousands more are injured, maimed for life.

Yet to many of us they boil down to mere numbers and we keep it impersonal in order to avoid the horrible reality behind those numbers. We keep it impersonal so we can forget, though we know they are dying for us.

So far the CNN American death count in Iraq as of 8/27/07 stands at 3,732, of whom 157 are from Ohio and in Afghanistan 426. The number of wounded in Iraq is 27,506, of whom 1,129 are from Ohio.

Real people giving us the ultimate sacrifice. Let's not forget.