It’s now Barack Obama’s turn to bear the burden of a Vietnam, as the 8-year Afghanistan war now appears to be, with a record 45 U.S. military deaths in August. Ten of the dead are troops with Washington state connections, just added to our War Dead pages. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is apparently not planning on retiring to his Skagit County home any time soon, saying this week “I absolutely do not think it is time to get out of Afghanistan” and hinting more U.S. troops may be sent there. Polls show it has become a war most American want out of, and even the conservative George Will is suggesting it’s time to declare victory and go home. Of course it will be too late for the war’s new dead, who include nine Fort Lewis Stryker troops who were in the thick of the firefights, and Army Chief Warrant Officer Douglas Vose, 38, (above) a Green Beret from Concrete, near Gates’ place in Skagit County. He was fatally wounded battling the Taliban in Kabul Province. The Special Forces officer was posthumously awarded his third Bronze Star for valor, and credited with saving the lives of several team members. In Concrete, where his memorial was held recently, one sign read simply: Doug Vose, Hero.