Lynn Svoboda, who went down with her A-10 fighter while training in Arizona last summer, the first female Air Force fighter pilot to die in a military plane crash. I think the American people ought to know that. And I hope all of you, as you go out and you have communications with your family and friends around the country, will just say that in passing, and ask your family members and your friends to share it with their fellow citizens. It is not easy to wear the uniform, and it is never a completely safe proposition. As president, the hardest decision I ever have to make is to put our troops in harm's way.
Force can never be the first answer, but sometimes, still, it is the only answer.
We must, and we will, always do everything we can to protect our forces. We must and will always make their safety a top priority, as I did on the issue of anti-personnel mines. Every casualty is a tragedy all its own for a parent or a child or a friend. But when the cause is just and the purpose is clear, our military men and women are prepared to face the risk. The American people have to be, as well.