In the United States, we spent today remembering the men and women who have served and died in our armed forces. That is about 576,000 combat deaths from the Revolutionary War through the current engagement in Iraq.

That number seems large, and its size is reinforced every day by the casualty reports from Iraq. But I wanted to take a moment to put these deaths in the context of the world I write on here: Russia.

Wars have taken an enormous toll on Russia, both its military and civilian populations. Russia lost 1.8 million soldiers and 1.5 million civilians in World War I. In World War II, 10.7 million soldiers of the then Soviet Union died in combat and 11.8 million civilians were lost. The total deaths accounted for more than 13% of the population of the Soviet Union at the time. It is a number I find hard to comprehend: The little town I live in has lost just 43 lives to combat in the 100 years it has existed.

And much as America's losses in war did not stop with WWII, neither have Russia's. Some 14,453 members of the Soviet Armed Forces died in Afghanistan from 1979 through 1989. That war also left a staggering 469,685 Soviet soldiers sick and wounded. Russia's more recent efforts to quell the unrest in Chechnya cost the lives of 2,331 servicemen.

Of all the losses, the most raw remain those from WWII. These are the deaths memorialized in Russia every May 9 on what is known as Victory Day. If you are not in Russia on that day, and want to get a sense of how fresh that combat still is in the Russian consciousness, go to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow in late morning for the changing of the guard. It is located in Alexander Garden, which is at the base of the Kremlin Wall around the corner from Red Square. You will see simple bunches of fresh-cut flowers and more than a few fresh tears.

Russian men have to spend two years in the military between the ages of 18 and 24. Just four years ago, Russia passed a bill that allows conscientious objectors to perform some other civic duty in place of their military service. One of the options for alternative service: Working in an orphanage.