The tragic accident last week that took nine Coast Guard and Marine Corps lives was a heartbreaking and nearby reminder of the dangerous nature of the work our men and women in uniform tackle on a daily basis.

In many cases, this one sadly among them, the training our military members engage in is as dangerous as the actual combat and law enforcement missions. Training and missions were both in play last Thursday night when a Coast Guard C-130 on a search mission collided with a Marine Corps AH-1W helicopter on a training exercise just off the Southern California coast.

The loss to their respective services of these highly trained veterans is as nothing, of course, to the loss their families have suffered. Sons, husbands, sister, brothers, daughter, fathers: Each of those nine was an integral part of a family, beloved and cherished, their return home as anticipated as it was expected.

When our service members are killed overseas in a combat zone, it is perhaps easier for those of us on the home front to deal with. When such a tragedy happens right here in our back yard, it is a little tougher to compartmentalize.

And perhaps that's the lesson to take from this tragedy: No one who dies serving the rest of us should ever have their death accepted as routine. If we're going to send our men and women in uniform into harm's way in our name, then we should have the fortitude and compassion to feel the pain of every death that results.