At this time of family and fun and summer, I find myself thinking of those I have lost to war in one way or another over the past decade – some to battle, some to attacks by those who should have been allies, and some to PTSD.  I've been blessed to get to know some amazing people, and some of them were in my life for all too short a time. Warfare pulls people away in an unjust time and makes you analyze death differently.  Death chooses those it takes seemingly at random.  It doesn't choose the bad ones; it doesn't choose those with no family or with small children.  Warfare chooses whom it will, for its own reasons, unannounced and unexpectedly.  Then there you are, with a new hole in your heart that won't ever go away.  And that hole is all the deeper because you know that your pain for your friend is nothing compared to the pain others feel from losing that person. There's a part of you that accepts it.  When the...(Read Full Article)