Women's basketball fans probably know more about Maggie Dixon than they do of the athletes she coached at West Point. In her article "In Army's Locker Rooms, War Toll Hits Close to Heart," the New York Times' Juliet Macur writes about the young men and women training to be officers, noting "at least 14 of the 44 former cadets killed in action since 2003 played intercollegiate sports. They included former captains of the baseball, hockey and swim teams; a hammer thrower; and men’s soccer players."

Coaches and teammates have had a particularly difficult time dealing with the deaths because West Point teams grow so close. They weather the pressure of juggling military training with studies with Division I sports, the highest collegiate level. They spend more time with one another than with anyone else, at practices, on trips and at meals, where the teams sit together.

When athletes graduate, they share their war-zone experiences with cadets via e-mail messages to remind them that teamwork is crucial to success at West Point and on the battlefield.

But death severs those relationships.