“We are a family, 6,000-plus strong,” said Maj. Gen. James Seward, adjutant general of the West Virginia National Guard. “And so, when we lose one of our family members, I can tell you that every guardsman I’ve talked to is grieving.”

In the case of Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, the family of those grieving her death extends across the Mountain State, as does those praying for the recovery of Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, who was also shot during an attack in Washington, D.C., last Wednesday.

But the initial shock of that horrific event has rightly evolved to include a desire to know as much as possible about what happened.

What were West Virginia National Guard members doing in our nation’s capital to begin with? Further, what was the task that had kept Beckstrom and Wolfe (among approximately 170

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