Casualty Assistance Officer

My platoon sergeant has been our for several weeks now on Casualty Assistance Officer duty. He's taking care of the family of a soldier who was killed by an IED in Afghanistan.

I do not envy him.

He tells a heart-rending story. When he came to the door in his Class A dress uniform, the first thing the soldier's wife said was, "Oh no, not again."

She had lost her first husband in Iraq a few years ago. Though she had no children by him, she had a baby with her second husband. The little one was six months old at the time of her second husband's death, having never seen the father.

And now, with Christmas time at hand, the leave my platoon sergeant requested has been cancelled. He said he'll get over it -- that seeing the pain that this family is in really put things in perspective.

Instead of spending time with his family, he's been with them, asking impossible -- but mandatory -- questions to both the widow and the soldier's parents.

"Do you want the pictures from your (husband/son)'s autopsy?"

"Some of his remains [his leg] were never recovered. If they are found at some future date, would you want these remains repatriated or would you prefer the Army to make other arrangements?" (This would mean "disposal.")

It was at this point, he said, that the father just stood up and walked out of the house.