Fallen U.S. Soldiers Are People We Know

One of the most troubling and saddening things to come out of the ill-considered adventure in Iraq is the constant stream of these obituaries in The Times (“Military Deaths,” April 11). I want to weep as I see the faces and ages of these young men and women. My stomach turns over when I imagine the pain and grief of their families.

I have taken to cutting them out and mailing them to the White House. I hope that this will help President Bush to consider the consequences of his policies for these lost young men and women, their grief-stricken families and, indeed, for all of us.

Noel Park

San Pedro

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I would like to thank The Times for taking the time to write biographies on each of our war heroes who died in Iraq. It really brings home the loss of our wonderful men and women serving this country. They are not just names but people we know who gave up everyday lives to uphold the ideals of this great country. My heart goes out to their families.

Suzanne Brugman

Whittier

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I wept as I read “Equal Right to Fight” (April 10), about Army Staff Sgt. Kimberly Voelz. I mourned for her husband, her family, her fellow servicemen and women and for our country’s loss of a brave soldier. But Voelz died in the job she chose and loved, and she should not have been denied that choice because she was a woman.

Women are fully capable of assessing risks and dangers, and they should be allowed to pursue any career, no matter how perilous. While I am certain that Elaine Donnelly, a former member of a presidential commission on women in the armed forces, means well, her petition [to take women out of combat] implies that government must protect those women who lack the good sense to stay out of dangerous situations. The loss of each and every soldier, regardless of gender, hurts deeply. We cannot deny women the same opportunities that men have. We have come too far as a society.

Ingrid Braun

Valencia