FORT LEWIS -- This base is 6th on the list of military bases with the most casualties in the war in Iraq. But the soldiers at Fort Lewis say they want to make sure each and every soldier is honored for their supreme sacrifice.

When the fighting in Iraq began, it was everyone's hope that the U.S. could get through the conflict with very few soldier deaths, and have it be over and done with quickly.

That was five years and 179 Fort Lewis casualties ago.

Time and again, soldiers, their families and friends have gathered to pay honor to those who've fallen.

On this 5th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, the soldiers and their commanders say the deaths that happen today are just as hard to take as those back in 2003.

The first Fort Lewis soldier to die in Iraq was MP Travis Burkhardt in June of 2003. One of the most recent is Cpl. Kevin Mowl.

"You are greatly missed my friend," Staff Sgt. Kenneth Hoffman said last Friday at the memorial service. "Never will you be forgotten."

Lt. Col. Adam Rocke of the 3rd Stryker Brigade says they all grieve together.

"We have a common bone, a brotherhood like no other, and you go back out there because we have a job to do," he said.

But how do you get back out there when you know that at any moment, you too could be a casualty of war?

"The guys who keep it inside are the ones that it kind of tears you up," said Capt. Philip Schneider of the 3rd Stryker Brigade. "But if you talk about it, that's the quickest way to get over it. Then you have to get back on your horse and get back out there."

But it's especially tough when wives and children are left behind -- kids who never really got to know their fathers.

"Death doesn't come easy," Rocke said. "We have a job to do."

Capt. Schneider added, "Soldiers have to do it throughout history. It's tough."

And yet they go back into the fight. They say they need to for their fellow soldiers, the Iraqi people, and for their country.