Honoring Sacrifice

There is a discussion taking place locally that I think is important. I'm not sure where I come down on this issue because I can easily see both sides.

Our local Army base has a number of soldiers serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom and in Afghanistan. Like many other units, sadly, they have been taking casualties. It's been an all too frequent occurance for a memorial service to be scheduled seemingly every day.

Recently, the commanding officer has decided that the base will hold one memorial service per month honoring all the soldiers who were KIA the previous month. His reasoning is that it's hard on morale and so many people are attending memorial services that it is cutting into productivity. It's not like we are talking one or two a month - we are talking three, four, sometimes more a week!

You can imagine how this decision was received by families, the soldiers, and the public. There has been an outcry that it is unfair to the families and disrespectful of the sacrifice made by each of the soldiers who have died and the soldiers who served with them.

I'm just not sure how I feel about this. Like I said, I understand the commander's position. He is trying to balance the need for closure and to honor the fallen soldiers with the need to keep the base operating. But, as an Army wife I can understand the families position. You want your loved one honored but not in an assembly line, cookie cutter fashion.