In his recommendation to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, President Obama acknowledged the toll it has taken on lives and families. "I know this decision asks even more of you. The military, along with your families, has already borne a heaviest of all burdens."

National guard troops have been tapped time and again the past eight years often for Iraq. In Nebraska and Iowa, 1,200 Army reservists have been called to duty at least once in Afghanistan. Many have gone back two or three times.

We watched the President's address Tuesday evening with Bob Allgaier. He has a vested interest in Afghanistan. "I would prefer that no one had to go. My son went because he thought it was his duty to go. It just breaks up entire families."

His son Chris Allgaier, 33, died piloting a helicopter in Afghanistan in 2007. The Taliban claimed responsibility. His father sees reason to keep fighting even though he knows the troops are stretched thin.

"If we're going to have to fight them," says Bob Allgaier. "I'd rather have blood on their ground that ours."

In May 2010, 3-years to the day of Chris Allgaier's death, Jackson Street at 111th Street where he grew up will be renamed for him.

"Our 2003 goals and challenges are similar to today." Lt. Colonel Tom Brewer took six bullets in an ambush in 2003. He was returning to base after a day of training Afghans. "The idea is we can train the Afghans to run their own military and own police. That's why were there originally and that's why we are still there."

Brewer of Murdock, Nebraska, has gone back to Afghanistan three times. He's headed back in a few days. This time his role is counter-narcotics. If you go after the drugs he believes, the cash that funds the insurgents will be limited. "I'd hate to see all the money and all the energy and lives not come to an endstate to gve the country some independence to stand alone."

Many of the additional troops that would have replaced those in Iraq will now go to Afghanistan.

Some have criticized the President's deadline or goal for leaving Afghanistan. Bob Allgaier is among them. He wonders if Al-Qaeda will just lay low until then. Tom Brewer wishes the President would have said that we'd be there until the mission was complete. He also wonders if sending only 30,000 troops instead of 40,000 as top brass had requested will impact the goals.