Time to Reflect As Iraq Toll Hits 3,000

A man who identified himself only as Dave sits among the gravestones of U.S. military who died in Iraq at Arlington National Cemetery, Sunday, Oct. 29, 2006 in Arlington, Va. October, it was a particularly bloody month for U.S. troops in Iraq with 105 American deaths. (AP Photo/Chris Greenberg) (Chris Greenberg - AP)

Here are the stories behind those numbers.

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In his last e-mail home, Adam Cann wrote his dad in Florida about some easy money he'd just won.

The Marine sergeant had made a wager with Cpl. Brendan Poelaert on the New Year's Day 2006 Miami Dolphins-New England Patriots game; even a rare drop kick couldn't stop Miami from pulling off a 28-26 victory.

"brendan is a big pats fan," Cann wrote from Ramadi, Iraq. "and we bet 100$ on the game. haha!!!"

Cann's grandfather was a Navy corpsman in World War II, and the boy spent many hours listening to stories in the family's "war room" _ a den festooned with weapons and flags. Looking for a "real challenge" after graduation from South Plantation (Fla.) High School in 2000, Adam followed his older brother into the Marines.

Tattooed over his heart was the Latin motto from the Cann family coat of arms: "Perimus Licitus" _ which can be translated as "let us die for things legitimate."

Cann went to military police school and later to the service's elite K-9 training center _ where he met his canine teammate, Bruno, at Camp Pendleton, Calif., in December 2002.

The German shepherd's bomb-sniffing abilities were unquestioned, but Bruno was skittish around people. He had none of the attack instincts required of a true military working dog.

"That's a dog that can't be fixed," thought Jason Cannon, a friend.

But by the time they were ready for deployment to Iraq in the spring of 2004, Bruno was as fierce a warrior as his handler.

"He transformed that dog from nothing to a great police K-9...," Cannon says. "They were a really tight team."