READER RICHARD AUBREY EMAILS:

I thought about explaining the current US position to some friends in Mexico. I finally settled on this:

From the end of World War II to today, every military thing we’ve been done has been…just business. We were trying to manage a global chessboard where victories had little immediate impact, and losses no immediate cost. Many years later, perhaps, the aggregate of our efforts would prove useful. The fighting cost the fighting men and their families. But it wasn’t personal.

This is personal.

There was the F14 pilot who wrote of dropping a packet of wake cards from the funerals of New York firefighters and police over Kabul with the warning that “this is why you die”. There are the ordies on carriers who decorate bombs and missiles with decals from New York police and fire units. There are plane captains who make sure the name of a dead firefighter or cop is stenciled on a combat aircraft.

There is the special ops helicopter squadron which was donated the wings of a stewardess killed in the attacks, and which makes sure those wings fly on every combat operation.

“Let’s roll,” now combines the aspects of a prayer and an exhortation. Not to mention a warning.

This is personal. Last time it got personal was a very bad time for those who had attacked us.

I think a lot of people feel that way.