WEBSTER SPRINGS, WV. — In West Virginia, many of the thousands of bridges spanning mountain valleys and gorges are named for local veterans and on Main Streets in small towns, banners feature hometown soldiers, some of whom fought and died in past conflicts.

It's a state with one of the country's highest per-capita populations of veterans. Service in the military — including the various branches of the National Guard — has long been seen not just as a patriotic duty, but as an economic lifeline, particularly in some of the poorer parts of the state.

The death of Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom in a Washington, D.C. shooting and the wounding of another National Guard soldier — Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, have brought that reality home once more in their hometowns and across

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