The attacks are personal.

For many of the 52 families whose sons have been killed this year by their supposed Afghan allies, there’s an additional weight to their grief. They deal with a profound sense of betrayal knowing their sons died at the hands of the very men they were there to help.

Families understand the danger of deployment, accepting that servicemembers could be killed by a faceless enemy on the other side of the battle.

But to many, the insider attacks are murder.

“There’s a sense of violation,” said Ami-Neiberger Miller, a spokeswoman for TAPS, which assists bereaved military families.

For years U.S. military leaders downplayed the attacks, but now they are blunt in their assesment. This week, the top commander in Afghanistan, USMC Gen. John Allen, told “60 Minutes”: “You know, we’re willing to sacrifice a lot for this campaign, but we’re not willing to be murdered for it.”

Here are the stories of some U.S. troops killed in insider attacks:

• Maj. Phil Ambard, 44
  
• Pfc. Jon Townsend, 19
  
• Sgt. Joshua Born, 25
  
• Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley Jr., 21
• Staff Sgt. Andrew Britton-Mihalo, 25
• Sgt. William R. Wilson III, 27
   

mccloskeym@stripes.osd.mil
Twitter: @MegMcCloskey
 

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