When 6-year-old Connor Johns visits Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens on Monday, he will be wearing the combat fatigues that his half-brother, Jordan, picked out for him before he was deployed in Afghanistan.
"He wears that outfit constantly," said Kandy Poole Johns, the boys' mother. "Connor loved Jordan, looked up to him as his hero and will always remember him as a Marine."
Twenty-four-year-old Lance Cpl. Jordan Chrobot of Frederick, who died last Sept. 26 during a firefight in Helmand province, was one of 10 Marylanders killed in Afghanistan since last Memorial Day.
The state's 12-month toll is the highest since the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom in response to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and a number that reflects the escalating U.S. military involvement in the Central Asian nation.
In what has been by far the bloodiest year in the conflict for U.S. troops, 400 soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen have been killed in Afghanistan since last Memorial Day. Total American deaths in what is now the longest U.S. war began reached 1,000 last week.
But as Taps is played Monday at Dulaney Valley and cemeteries across the nation, war-weary Americans appear to be focusing elsewhere.
Lynn Coffland wonders whether people will even think of soldiers such as her brother.
Forty-three-year-old Spec. Christopher Coffland of Baltimore died last Nov. 13 when a makeshift bomb exploded in Wardak province.
"The media barely speaks of the sacrifices soldiers are making in Afghanistan," she says. "Most of them are in remote locations, far from any comforts. … People have become immune."
In addition to Chrobot and Coffland, Marylanders killed in Afghanistan during the last year included Sgt. Bradley S. Bohle, 29, of Glen Burnie; Sgt. Charles I. Cartwright, 26, of Union Bridge; Sgt. Michael W. Heede Jr., 22, of Edgewood; Sgt. Rodrigo A. Munguia Rivas, 27, of Germantown; Spc. Anthony A. Paci, 30, of Rockville; Sgt. Matthew A. Pucino, 34, of Cockeysville; Cpl. Kurt S. Shea, 21, of Frederick; and Sgt. David J. Smith, 25, of Frederick.
For the first year since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, no Marylanders were killed in that country — another reflection of the nation's changing military focus. The number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan has now exceeded the number in Iraq, and is expected to grow to more than 100,000 over the summer.
"Not only are the numbers changing, but the nature of our mission in Afghanistan continues to involve combat operations to capture insurgents," said Maj. Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the Defense Department.
"In Iraq, we are transitioning to the role of advisors to Iraqi security forces. There is a lot less combat involvement. Afghanistan is a more kinetic operation, involving more lethal activities."
Operation Enduring Freedom is reaching a pair of sad signposts. A soldier killed by a roadside bomb on Friday became the 1,000th U.S. war death in Afghanistan. Next week, the war will complete its 104th month, surpassing the 103-month Vietnam War as America's longest military conflict.
Chrobot had served one tour in Iraq in 2007, but he told his family the fighting was not so intense. When he told his mother last summer that he would be deploying to Afghanistan, Kandy Poole Johns said, "the fear set in."
"There was a sense this would be more dangerous," she said. "He sent his wife a text the day before he died. He was in great spirits, joking around, but he said that he was getting ready for a big offensive. He wanted all of us to know how much he loved us."
It grieves Johns that most Americans seem oblivious to the dangers that her son and his fellow soldiers face in Afghanistan.
There's a reason that soldiers call the country 'Forgetistan." In a telephone survey in January, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press asked Americans whether more U.S. troops had died in Iraq or Afghanistan in 2009. A majority of the respondents — 57 percent — either guessed wrong or didn't know.
A subsequent poll, also conducted by Pew, indicated that Americans have grown less concerned about the war.
For several years after 2001, a plurality of respondents had ranked "defending the U.S. against terrorism" as their most significant national concern. But since 2008, the war on terror has slipped to third among the list of 21 issues, behind strengthening the economy and job creation. (The survey does not differentiate between the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.)
"The American public is more disengaged with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan than they ever have been before," said Army veteran Tom Tarantino, now a legislative associate with Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
"Unlike generations past, we're a lot less connected to our military as a culture. The nature of modern war is that it's not a traditional front-line battle, and therefore it's fought with far fewer people."
Less than one-half of 1 percent of the American public has fought in either Iraq or Afghanistan in the past nine years, according to Tarantino. In contrast, roughly 11 percent of the U.S. population served in the military during World War II.
The death tolls in Afghanistan and in Iraq, where 4,400 have been killed, have been far smaller than the 400,000 Americans who died in World War II, and the more than 58,000 in Vietnam.
Pew's Michael Dimock says the public's interest in Afghanistan began to fade as the powerful emotions provoked by Sept. 11 diminished. And unlike the conflict in Iraq, he says, the war in Afghanistan was never particularly controversial. So as the war has dragged on, there have been fewer news stories from or about that country.
"Between 2003 and 2008, when pollsters asked the public about war, they were asking about Iraq," he says. "Afghanistan also largely disappeared from news coverage. It was so off the radar, we weren't even keeping track of it."
In late 2007, the public's attention began to shift from foreign wars towards the tottering economy, and what was shaping up to be a historic U.S. presidential election.
"Afghanistan is very hard difficult to cover," Dimock says. "The public isn't familiar with it, so it's harder for them to grasp what's going on there. If nothing extreme happens to focus the public's attention, it's possible it will never move back into the forefront of most people's minds."
Some have predicted that awareness and support for the war in Afghanistan will change as the conflict escalates and casualties mount. Michael Cobb thinks they're wrong.
Cobb, a political scientist at North Carolina State University, conducted an experiment in which he divided his interview subjects into two groups. He asked members of the first how many soldiers had died in Iraq and Afghanistan (About thirty percent, he says, were in the right ballpark). He told the second group the number of fatalities in each war.
In neither group did the proportion of his respondents who supported the war effort change when the facts were presented.
"Our research shows that people don't respond rationally to objective information," he says.
"That isn't how they form their opinions. They either support the war or oppose it for largely partisan reasons, or because someone they know is for it or against it. People have a tolerance for a certain amount of casualties. As the body count rises, so does their tolerance."
That's partly why Johns is making the four-hour drive from her home in Harrisonburg, Va., to the memorial service in Timonium.
"This is the first Memorial Day that Jordan is not with us," Johns said. "They are honoring him with other Maryland soldiers, and I am going to be there."
She seems resigned to the notion that twelve months from now, the wartime death toll will be much higher than it is now — whether her fellow Americans are paying attention or not.
"This is Jordan's year for these honors," she says. " Next year, unfortunately, there will be others."
Maryland's fallen
Sgt. Rodrigo A. Munguia Rivas, 27, died June 21, 2009, when his unit came under fire in Bagram.
A native of Germantown, Munguia Rivas joined the Navy in 2000 and served four years, including a tour in Iraq. He enlisted in the Army in 2008 and deployed to Afghanistan a year later. As a member of a combat team, he worked as a driver and helicopter mechanic.
Sgt. Michael W. Heede Jr., 22, died July 13, when a bomb hit his vehicle while he was on patrol in Helmand province.
His enthusiasm for the military led him to sign up for delayed entry when he was 16. He grew up in Edgewood and played lacrosse and ran cross country in high school. He was also a volunteer firefighter in Harford County before joining the Marines four years ago. He served a tour of duty in Iraq and volunteered for a second deployment in Afghanistan.
Sgt. 1st Class Bradley S. Bohle, 29, died Sept. 16, when his Humvee was struck by a bomb in Helmand. He was one of three Special Forces soldiers killed in the attack.
He grew up in Glen Burnie and attended North County High School, where he played on the lacrosse and wrestling teams. He joined the Army in 1998 and eventually earned the green beret as a Special Forces medical sergeant. He was serving a second deployment to Afghanistan. His decorations include the Bronze Star.
Lance Cpl. Jordan L. Chrobot, 24, died Sept. 26 while on patrol in Helmand
The Frederick County resident enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating from New Life Christian School. He idolized his grandfather, a Marine and Vietnam veteran, and wanted to follow his example. He also participated in numerous Civil War re-enactments and was an avid musician who played drums and guitar. He served a tour in Iraq in 2007 before deploying to Afghanistan.
Sgt. Charles I. Cartwright, 26, died Nov. 7 in combat in Farah province.
The Union Bridge native graduated from Walkersville High School, where he wrestled and played football. He fulfilled a lifelong dream when he enlisted in the Marines. He was serving his fifth tour of duty after deploying three times to Iraq and once to Afghanistan, and was twice awarded the Purple Heart.
Cpl. Christopher J. Coffland, 43, died Nov. 13, when a bomb struck his unit in Wardak province.
The Baltimore native and Gilman graduate joined the Army just before his 42nd birthday. An alumnus of Washington & Lee University, he played football in Finland, coached the game in Australia and coached lacrosse at Boys' Latin School. He graduated at the top of his class at the Army Intelligence School.
Staff Sgt. Matthew A. Pucino, 34, died Nov. 23 in Pashay Kala when a bomb struck his vehicle.
The Boston native earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Northeastern University. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, he enlisted as a Special Forces candidate and earned the green beret in the engineering and intelligence service. He most recently resided in Cockeysville. He was serving his fourth tour of duty and had been awarded a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.
Sgt. David J. Smith, 25, died Jan. 26, 2010, while on patrol in Helmand province.
He joined the Marines soon after graduating from Frederick High School. He served as an armored vehicle crewman and was on his second combat deployment.
Sgt. Anthony A. Paci, 30, died March 4 in Gereskh, when his Stryker tank rolled over after he directed the driver to avoid a car with an Afghan family.
The Rockville native attended Walt Whitman High School before joining the Army. He had served as a mortar man in Iraq and volunteered for a second deployment to Afghanistan.
Cpl. Kurt S. Shea, 21, died May 10 in Helmand province.
He signed up for the Marines in his senior year at Frederick High School. Recently promoted to corporal, he served as a radio operator. He had hoped to pursue a career in law enforcement once his enlistment ended next year.
Source: Department of Defense
A memorial service for Marylanders killed in action in the past 12 months will begin at 10 a.m. Monday at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens, 200 E. Padonia Rd., Timonium. Information is available at 410-666-0490 or http://www.dulaneyvalley.com.