What made me cry today:

"Speed, technology have reduced mortality among U.S. troops" By Mark Washburn, Knight Ridder Newspapers

CAMP ANACONDA, Iraq - First, the grievously wounded arrive for the flight on stretchers, some carried by volunteers who show up for special duty in the middle of the night after working on the base all day.

After the last stretcher is loaded aboard the military evacuation plane, the ambulatory patients prepare to ascend the ramp, one after the other.

Volunteers and staff from Camp Anaconda's tent hospital flank their path.

They clap vigorously and cheer loudly as the first patient appears, and they do this until the last one makes the climb, the circle closing, the salute echoing through the cavernous C-141 cargo plane.

This is the last sound the wounded American warriors hear in Iraq.