Do you read Doonesbury? I have been a big fan of the comic strip since the 1970's.

This week, after a short series of re-runs, the strip addressed the war in Iraq through the eyes of the characters there. B.D. has been a regular on the strip since the beginning. He has always represented the gung-ho conservative. He has been in Iraq serving with a reserve unit and some buddies from the 1st Gulf war.

This Monday, I was caught by surprise when the strip showed him caught in one of the many ambushes that soldiers in Iraq have been facing since the beginning of the war. The strip started in black, then showed his buddy tending to him with smoke and dust in the background, obviously from an explosion. The strip then ends in a blackout and we don't know whether B.D. survives. (Read it Here)

By saying that I was caught by surprise, I mean surprised at my reaction as much as the turn in the storyline. I found tears in my eyes because I saw the real possibility that a character that I had known for over twenty-five years would die. Maybe that is what they meant by shock and awe? It may seem absurd that someone might have some emotional investment in a fictional character that is only pen and ink. But I suspect that only those who rarely read novels have not been brought to tears by a good book. I mean a really good book. Doonesbury is like a good book that has been going on for over 30 years.

For the past week, I have been anxious to find out whether B.D. was going to survive. Yesterday, we found out that he was going to survive, but missing his lower leg. In addition, they removed his helmet. B.D. has been defined by a helmet of one sort or another since his character was introduced. To have his helmet removed (revealing black hair with white sides) is probably the most unprecedented thing for Garry Trudeau to do. It underscores the importance he places on this particular story. I imagine that he ran last week's re-runs in order to prepare for this story.

It is obvious that Trudeau thinks that the themes of this story are particularly important. The main theme that I see is that of the danger to our troops in Iraq. The second theme is that, though relatively few are dying in ambushes and attacks compared to previous conflicts, many are being wounded and maimed. It is a testament to modern military medicine that soldiers that in Vietnam or World War II would have died of their wounds are surviving. It also shows the value Americans in general and the US military place on human life.

For the most part, the numbers Americans are hearing about from the Iraq war are the numbers of dead soldiers. Relatively speaking, these numbers are low. What is often overlooked are the numbers of wounded. The military tracks casualties in order to determine the effectiveness of combat units. From a casualty standpoint wounded or dead soldiers have the same effect on the effectiveness of combat units. That is, when a soldier is removed from a unit, the effectiveness drops. It does not matter that the soldier has been removed by death or has simply been relocated to a hospital in Germany; the combat strength of the unit drops.

However, what gets reported in the media is not casualties and the combat strength of the military, but how many soldiers died. Deaths have a greater impact at home than do overall casualties. When a soldier returns home, the families are relieved that he is back alive, even if he is missing a leg or otherwise maimed. For the soldier, though, his life has changed forever. I wonder what B.D.'s life will be like when he returns home? For a man who was a football star, a coach and otherwise physically active, losing a leg will be one of the greatest emotional and mental challenges he will ever face.