The soldiers are killing themselves. At a rate more than battle engagements. Nobody is really talking about it. The pressure, the stress, the boredom, and the depression must drive it. The intermittent combat zone compresses it until they can’t take it any longer. It’s a reflection of our confused and discombobulated mission, giving us a nation of lost and lonely children. Nobody speaks about it, and nobody questions it for fear of looking weak but it’s on all of us. A collective appetite for war and vengeance consumes us and they are the scattered pawns. Unlike other wars, this one has no set end game. It’s insidious and with the lack of a defined purpose, which we can rally around the players, they will continue to suffer. Sacrifice is one thing, this becomes self-mutilation.