101 U.S. troops killed in May so far

[ProSense]

U.S. troop casualties: 3452

Military announces 8 U.S. deaths in Iraq[/b

[aquart]

1. May's not over.

[ProSense]

2. Edited, so far! n/t

[PurityOfEssence]

3. Sorry to be picky, but these are "deaths", not "casualties"

"Casualties" are killed, wounded and missing. I'm bringing this up not so much as a technical snot but to throw out a number that's much more daunting.

The wounded so far are 24,314, so this means that casualties are 27,766. Of course, this doesn't include disease or non-combat wounds, which are significant. It also doesn't include the mercenaries we so colorfully call "contractors" who've been killed and wounded.

These are real people whose lives have been either ended or drastically changed forever while we effectively turn our collective backs on them. There's no sacrifice in the civilian population; there's no rationing or other annoyance to bother our blissful ignorance one whit, and that's deliberate.

At least people are starting to get more aware and militant about this nightmare, but it's still very tidily compartmentalized.