Special medals presented to three Calgary soldiers

The Canadian military created the Sacrifice medal in 2009 to replace the Wound Stripe. It is awarded out to members of the military killed or injured in the line of duty since Oct. 7, 2001.
Linda Loree accepted the award on behalf of her son Cpl. Nathan Hornburg, who was killed by a shell explosion in Afghanistan in 2007. Loree said she doesn't want her son's legacy squandered after the Canadian military's planned withdrawal in 2011. She said she'd like to see the Canadian Forces maintain some presence there.
"The word 'sacrifice' will take on an entirely different meaning to me if I don't feel good (about) what is going to be done post-2011 to validate and use those sacrifices in a way that helped Afghanistan move forward," she said.

My Regiment also awarded this medal to several soldiers in March, and to two of my good friends, members of my Troop in Afghanistan whose luck run out on their third or fourth tour in Afghanistan..

She has a good point. Unfortunately it will cost more Moms to recieve the Sacrifice Medal. Hey, I don't want all our deaths and injuries to be in vain, but to just add to these statistics is akin to WW1 over the top and walk into death strategies. Hopefully the big US surge will make a difference and kill or repulse the Taliban from Afghanistan. But they may just melt away from them and lay low for as much as a decade and strike again.