While the attention of many Americans has, of late, been diverted by the unfolding drama of the midterm election, the tragedy that is the war in Iraq has marched on, seemingly oblivious to the political theatre playing out half a world away. While some Americans were preparing for the election, heading to the polls, counting votes, and processing the astonishing results, others were under hostile fire and simply trying to stay alive. Not all were successful. To date, in the month of November, 24 U.S. soldiers have perished in the line of duty. Those left behind to fight another day are doing what soldiers do. They are standing tall, bearing up as best they can under the weight of their packs and their grief and carrying on. It cannot be easy.

In today’s New York Times, Michael Luo and Michael Wilson report on the challenges faced by one unit in Iraq and the grief that connects surviving soldiers there with surviving family members here:

When Soldiers Fall, Grief Binds a Unit’s 2 Worlds

Memorial services honoring fallen soldiers from the First Battalion, 22nd Infantry in Iraq used to require planning meetings of as long as 45 minutes. But at this point, they take barely five.

“We’re here again,� said Chaplain John Hill. A roadside bomb had killed yet another soldier from the battalion the day before. He began to recite the unit’s “memorial ceremony execution matrix,� a 40-item checklist of tasks that includes everything from collecting personal effects to finding a singer.

Lt. Col. Craig Osborne, the battalion’s commander, said, “Unfortunately, we’ve gotten, I won’t say, good at this,� and he wrapped up the meeting almost as soon as it began. “It’s become habitual.�

In October, 105 American troops were killed in Iraq, the most since January 2005. The spike in deaths, more than three years after the war began, became a major factor in the sweeping Democratic gains in Congress this week. Colonel Osborne’s soldiers alone lost nine comrades, just as the battalion was beginning to make preparations to return home later this month.

“When something like this happens, all you do is think about it,� said Sgt. First Class Robert Warman, who last month watched a Humvee carrying four soldiers get blown to bits in front of him when a huge bomb hidden in the road exploded. “You think about it when you go to the mess hall, when you go to take a shower, when you lay down to sleep. You think, and you think, and you think, and you cry.� [full text]