Most presidents agonize about their decision to send US troops into harm’s way. In 1983, Ronald Reagan eloquently explained how each death weighed heavily upon him:
“There is a special sadness that accompanies the death of a serviceman, for we’re never quite good enough to them. Not really; we can’t be, because what they gave us is beyond our powers to repay. And so, when a serviceman dies, it’s a tear in the fabric, a break in the whole, and all we can do is remember.”
