This is an absolutely unnecessary tragedy, of course, and I pray for the souls of those marines and their families. However, the bereaved can take some solace in the fact that their loved ones died doing just about the only worthwhile thing America has ever done in Afghanistan, and that's getting the hell out of it.

When a child asks 'What did my father die for?', at least the families of these marines will have a better answer than those who died before them.