Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

A heartbreaking year

It has been a year since Dena Yllescas buried her husband, Capt. Rob Yllescas, after he died of wounds suffered in a bombing in Afghanistan. “I have managed to put one foot in front of the other and try to make the best out of a horrible situation,” she writes in her blog as she ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
575947_091204_grave2.jpg
575947_091204_grave2.jpg

It has been a year since Dena Yllescas buried her husband, Capt. Rob Yllescas, after he died of wounds suffered in a bombing in Afghanistan.

“I have managed to put one foot in front of the other and try to make the best out of a horrible situation,” she writes in her blog as she meditates on how she and her children are taking the grim anniversary. “Our life will never be the  ‘old normal’ so we’re making a ‘new normal.” To her credit, she marked the hard day by getting a dog for her older daughter, which strikes me as a thoughtful, healthy step.  

yllescasfamily

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

Read More On Afghanistan | Military

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