Today, IAVA Executive Director and Founder Paul Rieckhoff gave a lecture at the National Strategy Forum in Chicago entitled "Protecting Those Who Serve: A National Security Strategy for Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan." Ahead of the troop drawdown in Iraq, Rieckhoff addressed how the U.S. government and local communities can play a role in ensuring the health, reintegration, and well-being of veterans and their families.

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Delaware - It was Marine Corporal William C. Comstock's final homecoming: His remains, secured in a flag-draped "transfer case" in the rear of the cargo plane, arrived on the nearly deserted runway.

The 21-year-old supply technician from Van Buren, Ark., who died in Iraq, was met in the chilly darkness by a highly choreographed ritual. With a chaplain's prayer, and the exacting movements of an honor guard, Comstock's body was gently placed in a white truck, saluted, and driven to the mortuary.

It was the eighth arrival of a fallen service member from Iraq or Afghanistan open to media coverage under the Obama administration's new policy that permits reporters to attend if the families approve - a policy carefully constructed after pressure from First Amendment advocates and the opposition of some veterans' groups.

But Comstock's arrival almost wasn't covered. A single reporter showed up Wednesday night, along with a photographer from the Associated Press, which has recorded each ceremony on behalf of its newspaper clients around the country.

At the first arrival ceremony approved for coverage - on April 5 - 35 media outlets were on hand. Attendance has waned considerably since: The second one had 17 media representatives, according to the Air Force, and the last few have had a handful in total.

"There was some deep concern that we would have a desire for several hundred media to be there originally and we were concerned that we were going to have to say we can't accommodate [them]," Colonel Robert Edmondson, commander of the Mortuary Affairs Operations Center, said in an interview. "We were surprised that there wasn't more of a huge outpouring."

The lack of interest, however, may say more about the nation than the media. After years in which the Bush administration worried that images of returning casualties would traumatize the public, the images from Dover have had little emotional impact.

"Putting pictures of dead soldiers on the front page doesn't sell newspapers," said Ralph Begleiter, a journalism professor at the University of Delaware who sued the Defense Department in 2005 to lift the ban on media coverage, which dated from the 1991 Persian Gulf War. "When war news comes on television the ratings go down. Is it any surprise that the media chooses not to publish these events?"

Comstock's family, who could not be reached for comment, did not attend the return ceremony. His father told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that Comstock was killed by an accidental weapons discharge. The Pentagon will only say that he died in a "non-hostile incident" in Anbar Province and is investigating.

There are practical limitations to more robust media coverage. The cost-cutting media has limited resources, and the Air Force can usually provide less than a half-day's notice before a casualty arrives - making it difficult for all but nearby journalists and the national media a few hours' drive away in Washington or New York to make it.