"I consider myself a civilian," said Rick Howell, a major from Tuscaloosa, Ala., who said he thought he had left the Army behind in 1997 after more than a decade flying helicopters. "I've done my time. I've got a brand new baby and a wife, and I haven't touched the controls of an aircraft in seven years. I'm 47 years old. How could they be calling me? How could they even want me?"November is on track to be the bloodiest month so far since we invaded Iraq. With 74 US soldiers killed in the last two weeks, the number of dead Americans is now 1,341.
This count doesn't include deaths which are considered non-combat casualties -- "In the first Gulf War, battle deaths were only 148, non-battle deaths in the war theater reached 235 and non-battle non-theater deaths totalled 914." The number of Iraqi dead is reported to be more than 100,000.
