Obviously, getting the DOD news releases with the names of those who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan is not one of the more pleasant parts of my daily life. But I find there is now an unpleasant undercurrent beneath the usual feelings of frustration and grief for those lost lives.

Every time I get a listing that is a woman’s name and the cause of death is given as “a non-combat incident” I feel myself tense up. My neck gets rigid and I have to fight the urge to clench my teeth. Always, I am reassured in print that “the incident is under investigation.” Right.

Like the woman who was found dead with evidence of rape, beatings and murder—-but was ruled a suicide? “Investigated” like that?  Like Jennifer Cole, who died August 2nd of a gunshot wound in a non-combat incident still under investigation? As much as I hate this kind of thing, I can’t even imagine the horror of family and friends getting said notification. How can you know what to believe of what the military tells you in the wake of a woman’s death in a war zone?  Almost 40% of the women who have died in this war have died in non-combat “incidents” and that seems mightily high to me.

The latest name, btw, was one Janelle King. I went to school (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth) with a Janelle. She was a smart, sweet, pretty girl…I imagine an awful lot like this one who shares her name. I mentally cross my fingers and hope it was some terribly ordinary cause of death like a vehicular accident or a fall. But, usually they say if it was some automotive mishap or illness or simple accident. And “non-combat incident” just means it didn’t happen because of the war per se.

I’d like to presume it was something relatively innocent, but my aching neck isn’t having any of it. Why don’t we have a right to the truth about what happens to the women in uniform? Who speaks for them? Who questions on their behalf? Aren’t they the troops we are to be “supporting” too?  Forty percent of them are not dying of combat related causes, so just whose fault is it and why can’t we get a straight answer?

NOT!