“They are so young, so young.” I kept repeating this in my head as I read birthdays — tombstone after tombstone — on the far end of Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery. The white marble tombstones — uniform and sterile — belied the stories of tragedy, pain, heroism, sacrifice, and love buried with each soldier. Many were born in the 1980s, some barely adults when they died.

This is where the casualties of America’s war in Iraq and Afghanistan rest. In front of the last row of tombstones are small plastic ID tags sticking out of the newly moved earth. They mark the graves of the latest soldiers to fall in battle.

And beyond — in an open field — will lay those who will follow in their wake.

A woman walks up to a tomb, lays down a bouquet and starts to cry, to wail, to pour out her loss.

I walked away. I could not bear to listen.

More than four thousand U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq since 2003 and more than 400 in Afghanistan since 2001.

Arlington is America’s most well-known military cemetery. But it is more than just a cemetery; it is described as “a chronicle” of America’s history. The graves in Arlington is a memorial to America’s heroes: to those who fought as far back as the American Revolutionary War, and to the celebrated (President John F Kennedy and his brother Robert) and the unknown.

More than four million people visit Arlington annually, no doubt part of the millions of tourists who come to Washington, DC to see the nation’s memorials to the triumph as well as the cost of American supremacy.

But Section 60 is unlikely to be on many tourists’ agenda. I’ve heard about Section 60 some time ago and had wanted to see it for myself. I brought with me my husband, my American friend and her Cambodian husband, whose family suffered horribly under the genocidal Khmer Rouge. You could say we were not unfamiliar to violence and death, but each of us flinched at what we saw.

Those of us who spent most of our lives in poor, conflict-ridden countries wonder why Americans have to die so young when this country has so much to offer.

Is the world now a better place because of their sacrifice?
The crying woman knows what she lost, but does this country?

The war in Iraq has divided the United States over the past five years and as America votes on Tuesday, some have defined support for continuing this “mission” as a measure of being a “Real American.” If Barack Obama wins, it could be the end of America’s presence there — and perhaps the end to these deaths. Maybe that open field will remain empty after all.