SOMETIMES A COUPLE of paragraphs tell the whole story:
Army Sgt. 1st Class James Connell Jr. knew he wasn't coming home from Iraq.
The night before he left his parents' home in Tennessee two weeks ago, he told one of his brothers just that. Then Connell, 40, asked his brother to take care of his kids.
James Connell was one of the four soldiers slain in Saturday's ambush in Mahmudiyah, where an intensive search for 3 remaining captured soldiers is entering its fifth day.
Connell wasn't alone in his 'knowing'. Other soldiers have told or hinted at the same thing: Matthew Bolar, Ethan Biggers, and Joshua Sheppard, to name a recent few.
Sometimes it's just the friends who know beforehand, as Army Sgt. Sharhonda Dunlap could tell you about Courtland Kennard.
And sometimes it even comes in dreams in the desert, as in the case of Brandon Wallace.
But there's one thing no one knows... because as long as David Petraeus' reckless plan to move soldiers from the safety of bases to poorly defended outposts is allowed to continue, no one can even guess how many will join James's, Matthew's, Ethan's, Joshua's, Courtland's, and Brandon's loved ones in the anguished grief that only the families can know.
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This diary by Spread the Word: Iraq-Nam, a daily blog on Iraq.