Crappy day: I've been lucky enough to have one relative and once good friend serve tours in Iraq over the last couple years and come home safely. Not everyone's so lucky.

From today's email:

Subject: Ben

My brother Ben was killed in Iraq yesterday. I amheaded up to Buffalo
tomorrow to be with family.

This was from a good friend here in Charlotte. His brother had been in Iraq about 10 days. He was about 20 years old. I met him once, but didn't know him other than that and don't know much about how he died, except that he may have been shot.