Difficult to read, but incredibly poignant and important.

Wow. That made me really sad.

So beautiful, and tragic. I think it is great that we get to hear what these brave souls really thought. I only wish we had been able to hear more directly from them the past 5 years.

On NPR the other day, they were talking with families of soldiers who have died. It broke my heart. I started sobbing in my car. Good thing I was at a red light! It was hard to hear, but I couldn't turn the channel. They deserve to be heard, remembered, and honored.

HBO did a documentary about 2 years ago called Last Letters Home - http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/lastlettershome/

In it they had family members of servicemembers who had died read the servicemember's last letter home. It was the most heartbreaking thing I have ever watched and I cried the entire time. Whats worse is that, because of the lag in the mail system, many of these letters didn't arrive until after the funerals of these men and women.

I encourage you to watch it though, its very difficult, but its very touching to see the pride in loved ones eyes when they speak of their servicemember.

Heartbreaking.

I hesitated to read it first, too, because I'm one of those very empathetic people who really, really has a hard time reading things like this. But like Liberty, I felt I had a duty to read...

It breaks my heart, and I completely agree with the young man who said "WHAT THE HELL AMERICA?"

I really wish our country would catch a clue that there are more important things in this world than Britney spears psychosis or what Paris Hilton is wearing (or who she's screwing) now.

What makes me even angrier and sadder is that I'm reading this after reading Cheney's comments about Bush "bearing the biggest burden" concerning Iraq.

I seriously would like to punch Bush & Cheney in the face right now.

The New York Times, I shoud've known. Anything to push forth the message to abandon Iraq I guess. Would it be better if we abandon the mission now so that all of their efforts and deaths would be in vain? While there are casualties in all wars, they have done a tremendous job in bringing stability in Iraq and we should not be forced to be swayed, ignoring the accomplishments, focusing ONLY on the negative.

It's incredibly sad to put faces and personalities with the tragic numbers. Ditto what Matdredalia said.

This actually made me cry, I can't believe he apoligized for defending his country. I really wish they would just bring them home. But, I know that is not the best but sometimes I wish we could.

Tinsel - They were not pushing forth an agenda at all, in my opinion. They gave a factual account of what is happening in Iraq, using the stories of the people who, ya' know, actually should be heard.

We hear our politicians railing on and on about the war in Iraq and telling us about the happenings there, but how often do Americans who are not related to or friends with servicemen and servicewomen get a chance to really get an eyeful of what is truly happening there?

Hell, for that matter, as one soldier said, who really bothers? So much of our media is caught up in Psycho Spears and Crackhead Hilton. Only 3% of the news coverage in America was about Iraq during the first 10 weeks of 2008.

This is a war that our men and women have been fighting for five years, god forbid THEIR voices be heard.

The NYT is not the most reliable news source, and they have problems with facts. However, I don't see how publishing the words of our servicemen is pushing an "agenda" to end the war.

Matdredalia, i don't have a problem with truth and giving a voice to the soldiers. However, I do have a problem with one-way journalism in which New York Times have consistantly proven themselves to have issues wtih. What I mean by that is, they never report on the great efforts and the postitive outcomes of our troops in Iraq, yet they never fail to report on the negatives. Even with the troops, they have managed to post stories of soldiers who wish to end this war and not the ones who support the efforts. Believe it or not they do exist and they too should be heard as well. There are people who have gone there and said that the soldiers (the majority of them) are proud of their work and what they have accomplished thus far and that they wish to finish what they are there to do and somehow those voices are left unreported because it conflicts with the agenda that The New York Times are pushing.

Agreed Tinsel. There are many people in uniform who support this mission and are proud of their work, it would have been nice if news outlets featured their opinions as well. Trust me, they aren't hard to find.

I am waiting to read this when I have some down time. I think these kinds of collections are important to honor those serving.

Well there are plenty of blogs from soldiers in the front lines. I know grandpa reads them daily, and a couple of men who wrote blogs actually died not too long ago, but others came in to take their place.

"This is a war that our men and women have been fighting for five years, god forbid THEIR voices be heard."

Their voices can be heard, just no one takes the time to listen if it does not fit their agenda or political view.

mili-blogs. Check em out. For the first time in history, we have real-time personal account from soldiers on the front lines. It's actually groundbreaking, in my opinion.

wow that mad me cry in the freaking library. I can't imagine being there and also knowing that someone I love is there.

I think it's important to stay in touch with all of them, and their variety of views. Because no matter what their opinion is, most of them just keep on working hard, and serving their country. We can't lose touch with them, or forget about them.

Every soldier has a story that should be heard. However, I do agree with tinsel. Why couldn't the NYT run a companion story featuring blogs or letters of soldiers who are making a difference in Iraq and do believe in their mission?

Tinsel, I think it is awful for any soldier to die on the field, and even more tragic if the country they are fighting for doesn't win.

But the fact of the matter is that for every war fought, MANY soldiers are going to die and their country will not have achieved victory. This is a fact of war. For every country that wins, there is another country that loses, and has soldiers that never make it home.

This was true for all of those soldiers who died for America during the Vietnam war. Thousands of American soldiers lost their lives in a war that last way too long. American's didn't want to back out and lose, so they kept sending soldiers over to die. My uncle was one of those soldiers.

No one wants to lose, but there comes a time when we have to evaluate the reality of the situation.

I wanted to point out, that if you read the article, one of the soliders specifically said he respects Bush and thinks he's doing "a great job with the mess Clinton left him". He said he doesn't question why they are there, he just knows that they are and that he wants to do the job. He, to me, sounded very much like he supports the war and why they're there.

To me, it didn't sound one sided at all. Only one soldier mentioned disagreeing with the war, and the rest just wanted to get home.

So you have one in support, one that doesn't support it, and four that just want to get home.

How, exactly, was any of it one sided or skewed? I thought it was a good representation of our soldiers and I don't think it sounded bias on the situation at all.

And juju - I'm with you on this one.

My darling Tinseltoe,

I can tell you that many soldiers, those that spoke their minds and frustrations about the war, were very much proud of their work and progress made. Hey they even supported it. Being the sister of Sgt. Ryan Wood I can tell you this for a fact. He, like many other beaten down men and women on the front lines, are simply frustrated with our nations inability to see that there are more important things than what Hollywood socialites are wearing or doing. Please be understanding that if you too were constantly surrounded by devestation, gunfire, mortar attacks and everything else that comes along with being a soldier, you too would be singing a slightly different tune then when you first joined the military. However, my brother supported this war and believed that even after having so many brothers in arms killed that we could not pull out. You should rethink what you're saying if you are not filled in on all the facts. By the way, the New York Times has posted uplifting stories of the soldiers success in many articles. You must have missed those days, but for future refrence it is always wise to research before you post up rants.

Loving sister of Sgt. Ryan M. Wood
Stephanie Wood