The first US soldier to die in the military campaign that followed the attacks of 9/11 was Evander Earl Andrews, a 36 year old from a farm family in Solon, Maine.  He was an Air Force Master Sgt. and heavy equipment operator who died in a fork lift accident while building an airstrip in Qatar in support of the invasion of Afghanistan.  He left a wife and four children between the ages of 2 and 9. 

The first US soldier to die as the 10^th year of the war began was Edwin Gonzalez, a 22 year old Navy medic assigned to the Marines who died in a roadside bomb attack in Helmand Province on October 8^th, 2010.  Nicknamed Superman by his friends, he had graduated from high school in North Miami, Florida, 3 years earlier, and had just been married.

While most Americans have seen the brief stories of people like these two who died in uniform in Iraq and Afghanistan, the true impact of their deaths can escape anyone not personally involved as a family member or friend of the over 6,000 dead.  The lost potential of a life not lived and this large new community of bereaved parents, spouses, children, siblings, and close friends are the main painful homefront legacy of these wars.

Most of the public are aware, at least, of the approximate number of US troops who have died, but even here the human cost of the wars to US and coalition forces extends well beyond them. Large numbers of private contractors working for the US military in those war zones have also died providing oil transport, food services, and other logistical and security support to the troops.