Damn.

A couple days away, and there's just too much news to digest. This is particularly hard to choke down.

THREE MARINES KILLED IN ACTION 5/29/2004
SOLDIER KILLED BY MORTAR ATTACK 5/29/2004
STRYKER BRIGADE SOLDIER DIES FROM NON-HOSTILE INCIDENT 5/29/2004
FOUR SERVICE MEMBERS DIE IN AFGHANISTAN 5/29/2004

This is getting very personal for me. One of the guys who was along on our trip has a grandson in Iraq, and I know the GI's wife and baby, as well. I know two others that are there, and two more with orders to go. The risks they are being asked to assume for - well, for what, exactly, and for how long? - would be simply absurd if they weren't so potentially tragic.

The Lunaville.org US fatality count for May is now 74, moving it ahead of April '03 to become the third most deadly month of the war.

Damn.