However. these extraordinary individuals know full well that they return again and again to a conflict that has taken the lives of over 4.000. almost 5.000 now. of their fellow soldiers and 28 from my district alone. They know that tens of thousands of American men and women are returning home wounded and physically disabled. many suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder and a host of other mental health issues. They know full well that they are redeployed to a civil war that has left millions of Iraqi men. women and children dead and millions more in refugee camps or fleeing to other countries that will accept them. Our soldiers already know quite a lot. and by that I mean. theyve come to learn that terms like "political progress" are little more than political posturing and empty rhetoric. and that is not how a Nation shows respect for its military. Unfortunately. such disrespect is what our brave men and women in uniform are accustomed to.