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Meanwhile, the Fort Hood community does what it has had to do all too often: mourn the dead, minister to the living. At least 545 soldiers from Fort Hood have died in Iraq and Afghanistan; now 13 more are gone, ranging in age from 19 to 62. One victim was a newlywed; one was three months pregnant; 19 children were left without a parent. Support groups kicked in, delivering food to the families. Local blood banks were swarmed with donors. The Facebook group Sgt. Kimberly Munley: A Real Hero has close to 24,000 fans and counting.
A President can't go to every memorial service. But this one he had to attend, if only to make sure that the stories got told, the names got spoken--Aaron and Amy, Jason and John, Frederick, Francheska, Juanita, Kham, Libardo, Justin, Russell, Michael. A young President baptized a new Greatest Generation: "We need not look to the past for greatness," he said, "because it is before our very eyes." Our security is their life's work, he said, and peace is their legacy, and freedom their gift. To the great gray sea of soldiers that stood before him, the deaths were a hard reminder of the challenge of protecting all three at the same time.