The Denver Post has a touching article this morning about soldiers writing their wills before they head overseas. Fort Carson, down near the Air Force Academy, has seen a large number of call-ups of both regulars and reservists, many of them too young to have considered writing a will or a living will or even death. The headline is a bit over the top; it conjures up images of a guy raising his hand in panic and asking, "You mean I could die? They never told us that!" But mostly it's just people who haven't made out wills, being sent into a particularly dangerous situation.

Some of the people are older. How a man with kids makes it to 45 without a will is beyond me.

One interesting note is the job help that mobilized reservists get. Employers have to hold open their old jobs for these guys and gals, which is only right. But, the article notes, some folks are self-employed, and need to make payments on equipment for their business. There's no law covering this, but the Army does try to work things out with the loan company. The knowledge that they'd be putting a soldier out of business probably carries a certain amount of moral weight.