Tom Pennington / Getty Images

Residents of Tolar, Texas, attend a candlelight vigil Wednesday at the old Tolar High School football field to honor hometown Army Special Forces soldier Sgt. 1st Class Riley G. Stephens.

When No. 2,000 fell last weekend in Afghanistan, journalists were keeping count. But is the nation keeping up?

Sunday marks the 11-year anniversary of the first American missile strikes against terrorist and Taliban targets inside Afghanistan. The U.S. military death toll has ticked ever slowly upward from the war's launch in October 2001 as a globally watched counterattack to 9/11 through the height of the Iraq War when service members in Afghanistan darkly dubbed their own battleground “Forgot-istan.”

Last Saturday, Sgt. 1st Class Riley G. Stephens, 39, was shot and killed by an Afghan National Army soldier at a highway checkpoint in Wardak Province. The Airborne Special Forces member had three children and a wife. Residents in his tiny hometown, Tolar, Texas, gathered Wednesday night on the local high school football field, burning candles in his honor.

According to The Associated Press, Stephens was the 2,000^th U.S. service member killed in Afghanistan, the type of historic landmark that gets the media’s notice.

/ USASOC News Service

Sgt. 1st Class Riley G. Stephens

But if the simple cold arithmetic of his passing didn’t get your attention, you’ve got company. Although 68,000 U.S. troops remain in that war zone, the majority of Americans have mentally moved along, military experts say, to the point where such tragic notches rarely rate a mention at the supper table and barely raise more than a momentary blip in the Twitter-sphere.

“I don’t think it ranked very high” in the nation’s consciousness, said Michael O'Hanlon, senior fellow with the 21st Century Defense Initiative and director of research for the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. “Thoughtful people – even if they have made up their minds about the war – they just want to commemorate it the same way we commemorate Veterans Day or Memorial Day. It merits a little bit of response in that regard. But beyond that, it elicits almost no new policy debate whatsoever."

“A 2,000^th fatality does not affect people's (personal) calculus on mission feasibility or the desirability of one policy option over another. It’s just going to be a sad milestone,” O’Hanlon said.

Watch the Top Videos on NBCNews.com

Perhaps that’s partly because America’s lengthiest war has not generated the fatal pace of past military conflicts. While 181 U.S. service members have been killed, on average, per year in Afghanistan, the annual death rates for American troops in three previous wars were higher to exceedingly higher – Iraq: 498 per year, Vietnam: 4,850 per year, and Korea: 12,300 per year.

The U.S. military plans to finish a withdrawal of most U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

“Of course, 2,000 fatalities these days really means 20,000 wounded because we’re keeping so many wounded people alive,” said O’Hanlon, who describes himself as “a supporter of the mission” in Afghanistan. “So, I think the numbers are pretty high in many ways."

“The fact that the country has sort of tolerated them, even though we’re still unhappy about still being in this war, is a testament to the fact that they are not huge,” he added. “Most people are not losing sons and daughters and brothers and sisters in this war. And that may explain why we’re still all sort of more or less against it and yet tolerating it. We have a presidential campaign in which there’s no real pressure to get out and yet everybody wants to get out.”

Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

Beyond that, giving special commemoration to the 2,000th service member to die in Afghanistan seems somewhat disrespectful to the 1,999th U.S. troop to die there -- someone whose life story and profound sacrifice may get far less acclaim. Meanwhile, the first casualties of the conflict get shoved deeper into the nation's collective memory, said Paul Rieckhoff, chief executive officer and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a nonprofit group with more than 200,000 members. 

"The larger concern we have is with that general disconnect," Rieckhoff said. "Obviously somebody was just killed in action there and that person should be remembered and celebrated. But we’ve also got to remember there are widows who have been dealing with this since 2001. They still need support and their families need care and their kids need to figure out how they’re going to school. The price those families pay impacts generations." 

"Most Americans aren't constantly thinking about Afghanistan. It’s not always in the papers. It’s at the end of very few news broadcasts. Maybe there is some fatigue in the general population," Rieckhoff said. "But I also think there’s some paralysis: They don’t know what to do about it. So, what we simply try to tell them is just make sure you remember the families."

More content from NBCNews.com:

• Snowstorm hits North Dakota, Minnesota, dropping up to 14 inches in some areas
• Lanai to become eco-lab that runs on solar, billionaire Ellison promises
• Americans ignore 'great risks,' travel to Pakistan to protest US drone strikes
• Up for grabs: the $300 million estate of reclusive heiress Huguette Clark
• Unarmed man shot dead by police in NYC
• Gray wolves probably real target of poisoned meat that killed dog
• Video: Could Border Patrol agent's death have been friendly fire?

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Lucas Jackson / Reuters, file

Paratroopers from Chosen Company of the 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry rest towards the end of a helicopter assault mission to improve their biological database, near the town of Ahmad Khel in Afghanistan's Paktiya Province on July 16.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- It was once President Barack Obama's "war of necessity." Now, it's America's forgotten war.

The Afghan conflict generates barely a whisper on the U.S. presidential campaign trail. It's not a hot topic at the office water cooler or in the halls of Congress — even though more than 80,000 American troops are still fighting here and dying at a rate of one a day.

Americans show more interest in the economy and taxes than the latest suicide bombings in a different, distant land. They're more tuned in to the political ad war playing out on television than the deadly fight still raging against the Taliban. Earlier this month, protesters at the Iowa State Fair chanted "Stop the war!" They were referring to one purportedly being waged against the middle class.

By the time voters go to the polls Nov. 6 to choose between Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, the war will be in its 12th year. For most Americans, that's long enough.

'Bumper sticker deep'
Public opinion remains largely negative toward the war, with 66 percent opposed to it and just 27 percent in favor in a May AP-GfK poll. More recently, a Quinnipiac University poll found that 60 percent of registered voters felt the U.S. should no longer be involved in Afghanistan. Just 31 percent said the U.S. is doing the right thing by fighting there now.

Not since the Korean War of the early 1950s — a much shorter but more intense fight — has an armed conflict involving America's sons and daughters captured so little public attention.

"We're bored with it," said Matthew Farwell, who served in the U.S. Army for five years including 16 months in eastern Afghanistan, where he sometimes received letters from grade school students addressed to the brave Marines in Iraq — the wrong war.

Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

Hoshang Hashimi / AP

More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

Launch slideshow

"We all laugh about how no one really cares," he said. "All the 'support the troops' stuff is bumper sticker deep."

Top US general's aircraft hit by rocket-fire in Afghanistan

Farwell, 29, who is now studying at the University of Virginia, said the war is rarely a topic of conversation on campus — and he isn't surprised that it's not discussed much on the campaign trail.

"No one understands how to extricate ourselves from the mess we have made there," he said. "So from a purely political point of view, I wouldn't be talking about it if I were Barack Obama or Mitt Romney either."

Ignoring the Afghan war, though, doesn't make it go away.

According to the defense department's latest tally (updated on August 21, 2012 at 10 a.m. ET), 1,972 Americans have died in Afghanistan since President George W. Bush launched attacks there in October 2001 to rout al-Qaida.

The terrorist group used Afghanistan to train recruits and plot the Sept. 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans.

If casualties in other countries are included, the number of Americans killed since the start of the war is 2,091.

According to an analysis of U.S. forces killed in the war by The New York Times, three out of four who died were white, nine out of 10 were enlisted service members and the average age of those who died was 26. Half of the deaths were in Afghanistan's Kandahar or Helmand provinces — in the country's Taliban-dominated south, the Times reported.

The war drags on even though al-Qaida has been largely driven out of Afghanistan and its charismatic leader Osama bin Laden is dead — slain in a U.S. raid on his Pakistani hideout last year.

Strangely, Afghanistan never seemed to grab the same degree of public and media attention as the war in Iraq, which Obama opposed as a "war of choice."

Unlike Iraq, victory in Afghanistan seemed to come quickly. Kabul fell within weeks of the U.S. invasion in October 2001. The hardline Taliban regime was toppled with few U.S. casualties.

But the Bush administration's shift toward war with Iraq left the Western powers without enough resources on the ground, so by 2006 the Taliban had regrouped into a serious military threat.

Slideshow: Living in the combat zone

Get an intimate view of the lives of infantry soldiers with the 10th Mountain Division, as they encounter danger and then have down time in Logar Province, Afghanistan.

Launch slideshow

Candidate Obama promised to refocus America's resources on Afghanistan. But by the time President Obama sent 33,000 more troops to Afghanistan in December 2009 in a policy known as the "surge", years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan had drained Western resources and sapped resolve to build a viable Afghan state.

Army casualties during the surge were heaviest at Fort Campbell in Kentucky (home to the 101st Airborne Division) and Fort Drum in New York (home to the 10th Mountain division), according to the Times' analysis of deaths. Units at both bases were frequently deployed to Afghanistan during the surge, the Times reported.

Panetta intervenes after 10th US service member killed in 2 weeks in Afghanistan

Over time, Obama's administration has grown weary of trying to tackle Afghanistan's seemingly intractable problems of poverty and corruption. The American people have grown weary too.

While most Americans are sympathetic to the plight of the Afghan people, they have become deeply skeptical of President Hamid Karzai's willingness to tackle corruption and political patronage and the coalition's chances of "budging a medieval society" into the modern world, says Ann Marlowe, a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute, a policy research organization in Washington.

"With millions of veterans home and talking with their families and friends ... some knowledge of just how hard this is has percolated down," said Marlowe, who has traveled to Afghanistan many times.

It has also been hard to show progress on the battlefield.

World War II had its Normandy, Vietnam its Tet Offensive and Iraq its Battle of Fallujah. Afghanistan is a grinding slough in villages and remote valleys where success is measured in increments.

The Afghan war transformed into a series of small, often vicious and intense fights scattered across a country almost as large as Texas.

What's leading Afghan troops to turn on coalition forces?

In July, 40 U.S. service members died in Afghanistan in the deadliest month for American troops so far this year. At least 31 have been killed this month — seven when a helicopter crashed during a firefight with insurgents in what was one of the deadliest air disasters of the war. Ten others were gunned down in attacks from members of the Afghan security forces — either disgruntled turncoats or Taliban infiltrators.

Many argue that bin Laden's death justifies a quick U.S. exit from Afghanistan. Others say it's important to stay longer to shore up the Afghan security forces and help build the government so that it can stand on its own. An unstable Afghanistan could again offer sanctuary to militants like al-Qaida who want to harm American and its allies, they say.

"Those of us who have been at this for a long time continue to think that it's important, and that we have a chance now of a path forward with a long-term perspective that will produce the results," said James Cunningham, the new U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.

US forces in Afghanistan ordered to keep weapons loaded at all times

The U.S.-led coalition's combat mission will wind down in the next few years, leading up to the end of 2014 when most international troops will have left or moved into support roles.

Military analysts say the U.S. envisions a post-2014 force of perhaps 20,000 to hunt terrorists, train the Afghan forces and keep an eye on neighboring Iran and other regional powerhouse nations.

Americans aren't likely to know the number until later this year. But will anyone other than families of service personnel take note?

"I have heard others say that the danger that their spouses or children are serving in is just simply not being cared about," said Fred Wellman, a 22-year Army veteran who did three tours in Iraq. "I think a lot of veterans feel it is just forgotten."

Political satirist Garry Trudeau captured the apathy about the war in a comic strip this year showing a U.S. servicewoman stationed in Afghanistan calling her brother back home.

After he complains that his children have the flu and how he's struggling to keep up with their hectic hockey schedule, he asks her where she's calling from. She tells him she's in Afghanistan.

"Oh, right, right ..." her brother replies. "Wait, we're still there?"

The Associated Press and NBC News staff contributed to this report.

More world stories from NBC News:

• Trayvon Martin case: How might it be treated abroad?
• Israelis fret over 'lynching' of Palestinian
• Video: Poaching surge threatens survival of rhinos
• Anti-tanning 'Facekinis' cause stir on China beach
• Reports: Kim Jong Un will travel to Iran
• Slideshow: Migration in the Americas
• Reports: Olympic sprinter drowned when migrant boat sank
• With wife's conviction, what is next for China's Bo Xilai?

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

The suicide rate among U.S. troops has surged this year, and Pentagon and military officials studying the current spike have found no apparent reason or developing trend.

There were 154 suicides in the first 155 days of the year – nearly one a day.

The Army convened its suicide prevention group this week to study the alarming numbers, but could not pinpoint a cause.

“There’s obvious concern but we’ve seen the number spike and fall before,” a senior military official told NBC News, particularly during the past three years when the number of suicides among active and reserve forces skyrocketed. 

Related: Survivors of military suicide victims come together to grieve

Army data suggest soldiers with multiple combat tours are at greater risk of committing suicide, although a substantial proportion of Army suicides are committed by soldiers who never deployed, the Associated Press reported.

A joint military-civilian task force including some of the nation's top mental health experts has been investigating military suicides for a couple years, military officials said. The group will unveil its findings in 2014, and has yet to pinpoint a specific catalyst.

For the previous three years, the number of suicides among active duty and reserve forces has hovered around 300.

The unpopular war in Afghanistan is winding down with the last combat troops scheduled to leave at the end of 2014. But this year has seen record numbers of soldiers being killed by Afghan troops, and there also have been several scandals involving U.S. troop misconduct.

The 2012 active-duty suicide total of 154 through June 3 compares to 130 in the same period last year, an 18 percent increase. And it's more than the 136.2 suicides that the Pentagon had projected for this period based on the trend from 2001-2011. This year's January-May total is up 25 percent from two years ago, and it is 16 percent ahead of the pace for 2009, which ended with the highest yearly total thus far.

Related: Controversial Army policy makes it difficult for soldiers to get service dogs

Suicide totals have exceeded U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan in earlier periods, including for the full years 2008 and 2009.

The suicide pattern varies over the course of a year, but in each of the past five years the trend through May was a reliable predictor for the full year, according to a chart based on figures provided by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner.

According to one military official, their finding so far is that the problem is "complex … There appears to be no single cause." Most appear to involve domestic issues such as marital problems and money, but it's also clear that combat exposure can exacerbate the problem.

In a "vast majority" of the cases among the 1.4 million active-duty military personnel, the individuals have not have sought help or counseling. "There's still fear among the forces they will be stigmatized if they seek help. We're still trying to change that attitude," the official told NBC News.

Related: Military women and suicide: Home safe but not sound

Jackie Garrick, head of a newly established Defense Suicide Prevention Office at the Pentagon, said in an interview Thursday that the suicide numbers this year are troubling.

"We are very concerned at this point that we are seeing a high number of suicides at a point in time where we were expecting to see a lower number of suicides," she said, adding that the weak U.S. economy may be confounding preventive efforts even as the pace of military deployments eases.

Garrick said experts are still struggling to understand suicidal behavior.

"What makes one person become suicidal and another not is truly an unknown," she said.

Dr. Stephen N. Xenakis, a retired Army brigadier general and a practicing psychiatrist, said the suicides reflect the level of tension as the U.S. eases out of Afghanistan though violence continues.

"It's a sign in general of the stress the Army has been under over the 10 years of war," he said in an interview. "We've seen before that these signs show up even more dramatically when the fighting seems to go down and the Army is returning to garrison."

But Xenakis said he worries that many senior military officers do not grasp the nature of the suicide problem.  

Last month, Maj. Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard, commanding general of Fort Bliss in Texas, retracted a blog piece he posted on Jan. 19 in which he called suicide “an absolute selfish act.”

“I am personally fed up with soldiers who are choosing to take their own lives so that others can clean up their mess,” he wrote.

Dennis R. Swanson, a public affairs officer at Fort Bliss, later told msnbc.com that the post was written in an emotional moment after Pittard had attended two memorial services for soldiers who killed themselves, and then learned of a third suicide.

In his retraction, Pittard apologized for his "hurtful statement," which he said was "not in line with the Army's guidance regarding sensitivity to suicide." 

"We must continue to do better each and every day, reaching out, encouraging and helping those in need," he wrote. 

His remarks drew a public rebuke from the Army, which has the highest number of suicides and called his assertions "clearly wrong." Last week the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, said he disagrees with Pittard "in the strongest possible terms."

The military services have set up confidential telephone hotlines, placed more mental health specialists on the battlefield, added training in stress management, invested more in research on mental health risk and taken other measures.

The Marines established a counseling service dubbed "DStress line," a toll-free number that troubled Marines can call anonymously. They also can use a Marine website to chat online anonymously with a counselor.

The Marines arguably have had the most success recently in lowering their suicide numbers, which are up slightly this year but are roughly in line with levels of the past four years. The Army's numbers also are up slightly. The Air Force has seen a spike, to 32 through June 3 compared to 23 at the same point last year. The Navy is slightly above its 10-year trend line but down a bit from 2011.

As part of its prevention strategy, the Navy has published a list of "truths" about suicide.

"Most suicidal people are not psychotic or insane," it says. "They might be upset, grief-stricken, depressed or despairing."

In a report published in January the Army said the true impact of its prevention programs is unknown.

"What is known is that all Army populations ... are under increased stress after a decade of war," it said, adding that if not for prevention efforts the Army's suicide totals might have been as much as four times as high.

Marine Sgt. Maj. Bryan Battaglia, the senior enlisted adviser to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently issued a video message to all military members in which he noted that suicides "are sadly on the rise."

"From private to general, we shoulder an obligation to look and listen for signs and we stand ready to intervene and assist our follow service member or battle buddy in time of need," Battaglia said.

The suicide numbers began surging in 2006. They soared in 2009 and then leveled off before climbing again this year. The statistics include only active-duty troops, not veterans who returned to civilian life after fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan. Nor does the Pentagon's tally include non-mobilized National Guard or Reserve members.

The renewed surge in suicides has caught the attention of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Last month he sent an internal memo to the Pentagon's top civilian and military leaders in which he called suicide "one of the most complex and urgent problems" facing the Defense Department, according to a copy provided to the AP.

Panetta touched on one of the most sensitive aspects of the problem: the stigma associated seeking help for mental distress. This is particularly acute in the military.

"We must continue to fight to eliminate the stigma from those with post-traumatic stress and other mental health issues," Panetta wrote, adding that commanders "cannot tolerate any actions that belittle, haze, humiliate or ostracize any individual, especially those who require or are responsibly seeking professional services."

Msnbc.com's Rebecca Ruiz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Oil boom brings wealth and waste to North Dakota
• Man using Zimmerman's old cell phone number gets threatening call
• 3 men found shot dead in car near Columbia University in New York
• Did Canada's alleged cannibal killer Luka Magnotta strike in LA?
• Video: Siblings late to school 160 times
• How hidden camera confession helped clear high school football star

Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

Updated at 3:38 p.m. ET: WASHINGTON -- Speaking at a hallowed site for fallen warriors on Memorial Day, President Barack Obama hailed the winding down of two wars, adding that the country needs to honor its returning veterans as well as those friends and family for whom trips to military graves are a bittersweet routine. 

"These 600 acres are home to Americans from every part of the country who gave their lives in every part of the globe," the president said at Arlington National Cemetery, after taking part in the traditional laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

“Whenever revolution needed to be waged and a union needed to be saved, they left their homes and took up arms for the sake of an idea," Obama said. “They rest here together side by side, row by row, because each of them loved this country and everything it stands for, more than life itself."

The president added that it is his obligation and that of all commanders in chief to send soldiers into harm’s way only with a clear mission.

Addressing families of the fallen at the cemetery’s amphitheater, the president said, “After a decade under the dark cloud of war, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon,” a line he has used recently to tout the end of combat missions in Iraq and a gradual drawdown in Afghanistan.

But, he continued, “especially for those who lost a loved one, this chapter will remain open long after the guns have fallen silent.”

He said that Americans should remember the individual stories of heroes who reflect the collective experience and sacrifice of the armed forces.

“One thing we can do is remember these heroes as you remember them: not just as a rank or a number or a name on a headstone, but as Americans, often far too young, who are guided by a deep and abiding love for their families, for each other and for this country,” the president said.

Slideshow: Memorial Day observed throughout the U.S.

The nation pauses to honor fallen troops.

Launch slideshow

He recalled an Air Force pilot who met his wife on an aircraft carrier, an accountant who joined the military to do something “more meaningful with his life,” and a young man who just days before he was killed in action told his father how formidable his fellow Marines were.

Watch the Top Videos on msnbc.com

The president said that to honor these soldiers and their loved ones “who carry a special weight” on their hearts, America can “strive to be a nation worthy of your sacrifice; a nation that is fair and equal, peaceful and free.” 

He suggested that part of that goal is the responsible deployment of troops only when necessary, which he said he takes to heart.

“As Commander in Chief, I can tell you that sending our troops into harm's way is the most wrenching decision that I have to make. I can promise you I will never do so unless it's absolutely necessary,” he said.

“And that when we do, we must give our troops a clear mission and the full support of a grateful nation,” he continued.

Pete Marovich / EPA

Brittany Jacobs of Hereford, N.C., hugs her 17-month old son Christian at her husband, Marine SGT Christopher Jacobs' gravesite in Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day at in Arlington, Va.

'Serving your country with valor'
Later Monday, the president commemorated the 50^th anniversary of the start of the Vietnam War with a visit to that conflict’s memorial on the National Mall.

More than 2,000 Vietnam veterans and family members of soldiers who died were invited to Monday's ceremony marking the beginning of a 13-year program to honor those who served in the Vietnam War and educate later generations about the war.

Standing in front of the veterans and families in the sweltering heat, Obama said that the ungrateful reception given to many returning Vietnam veterans was a “national shame, a disgrace that should have never happened.”

“You were often blamed for a war you didn't start when you should have been commended for serving your country with valor,” he said.

 He cited some of the policies his administration is pursuing, including disability benefits, more job opportunities and increased mental health resources as steps the country can take to ensure veterans are always given the respect and appreciation they deserve.

 “Let's resolve to take care of our veterans as well as they've taken care of us. Not just talk but action. Not just in the first five years after a war but the first five decades,” he said.

After he spoke, the president laid a wreath at the memorial along with Rose Marie Sabo-Brown, the widow of Army Specialist Leslie Sabo, who recently received the Medal of Honor for his valor during the Vietnam War.

Military aircraft flew overhead as Obama walked back from laying the wreath, holding Sabo-Brown’s hand, and the ceremony came to a close.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Remains found at campsite believed to be missing hiker
• Sandy Dahl, wife of 9/11 United Flight 93 pilot, dies at age 52
• Barbecues 'bottom of the list' for mothers of fallen troops
• The beauty in the details: Idaho's 'Field of Heroes'
• Survivors of military suicide victims come together to grieve
• Video: 80-year-old survives chute mishap

Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

courtesy Hawkins family

Former British Royal Marine Ed Hawkins was seriously injured in Afghanistan in 2010. He left hospital last year and is currently on a work placement.

LONDON -- Fisher House, the Maryland-based charity which provides overnight accommodation for families visiting hospitalized military members, is expanding onto foreign soil for the first time with a facility for British troops.

Construction has begun on a $6.8-million building with 18 en-suite rooms that will allow relatives to stay close to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where the U.K.'s most seriously wounded military personnel are treated.

As well as providing servicemen and women a place to relax away from hospital wards, it will have communal living space including a family room, play area, lounge and kitchen and a private garden.

Fisher House, which was founded during the first Gulf War in 1990, has more than 50 projects in the U.S., as well as others located on American bases in Germany. However, this is its first truly international venture.

'Unique American model'
Talk show host and former U.S. Marine Montel Williams and the charity’s chairman, Ken Fisher, attended a ground-breaking ceremony at the site.

Courtesy Fisher House

Montel Williams at the ground-breaking ceremony for the new Fisher House project at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, on April 23.

"This is a great honor for Fisher House, as we share with our British brothers and sisters our unique American model for caring for military families," Fisher said.

"This will be a sanctuary for the people who need it most: those who have made deep personal sacrifices – whether on the battlefield or on the home front – to keep us safe.  We thank them even though we know it will never be enough."

Almost 10,000 British troops are in combat alongside 90,000 U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. Figures from Britain's Ministry of Defence, collated by The Guardian newspaper, show 832 have been seriously wounded since Operation Enduring Freedom began in 2001.

Many families travel for hundreds of miles to be by their loved ones' bedside -- sometimes for weeks at a time, because of the need for months or even years of surgery and rehabilitation. Military accommodation exists for family members but only six bedrooms are available at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Sue Hawkins, whose son Ed was almost killed by an improvised explosive device while on a patrol in Afghanistan in May 2010, said the new facility would "be a great source of comfort, particularly at a time when families are surrounded by so much uncertainty."

The blast killed his corporal and seriously wounded Ed, who was serving with the Royal Marines. He was flown back to Birmingham for several months of treatment.

"When we were told about Ed, we just left for the hospital," Sue Hawkins told msnbc.com. "We had no idea how long we would be there or even if he would survive. I can remember everything about that day, because of the shock, but that last thing you have time to think about it is planning where to stay."

Five-hour round trip
Faced with a daily five-hour round trip from their home in Hampshire, Sue and her husband Michael spent many nights across the road from the hospital in a former nurses' accommodation block, before moving to the military facility – a converted house in a residential street.

"There were times when Ed became very distressed and we were able to reach him quickly when the hospital called," she said. "That sort of comfort and care is very important. We know first-hand how important it is to have a 'home from home' in difficult, emotional and challenging times. Fisher House truly is a massive step in the best direction possible.”

Ed Hawkins, who is now 26, left hospital last year and is currently on a work placement.

British soldier Nick Gibbons, who lost a leg in a bomb in Afghanistan in 2008, also attended the ground-breaking ceremony on April 23. He told ITV News: "It's what you need really, your family around you. Facilities like this are great because it not only allows the family to stay here, it gives you a better relationship with your family. It's a stressful time. The last thing you want is them travelling."

Fisher House has contributed $2 million to the project, with the rest of the building cost provided by U.K. veterans' charity Help for Heroes, whose high-profile supporters include Prince Harry. It will be operated by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Charity and funded by Help for Heroes when it opens next year.

President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have previously made a sizeable donation to Fisher House, which also operates a Hero Miles Program that uses donated frequent flyer miles to bring family members to the bedside of injured service members. 

Montel Williams told the Birmingham Mail that he was a regular visitor to Fisher House sites in the U.S., cooking meals for soldiers and their families. "I'll definitely be coming to Birmingham to do the same," he told the newspaper. "I'll bring my sister and my chef with me and we'll rustle up things like crab cakes and fish. It'll be real American-style cooking."

Msnbc.com's David Arnott contributed to this report.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Study: Plastic in 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' increases 100-fold
• US charity's gift to UK troops: $2 million for 'sanctuary'
• $868K mystery: Nigeria stock exchange's yacht, Rolexes vanish
• UK jails 9 members of sex gang who 'shared' teen girls
• Heathrow chaos: Travelers spend longer in line than on jets
• Leak hits Shell Nigeria pipeline at center of environmental case
• Story of vengeful jilted dentist WAS too good to be true
• Poll: Most Egyptians think US aid billions have 'negative effect'
• London jogger: Dustin Hoffman 'saved my life'

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Participants in a parade to honor Iraq War veterans make their way along a downtown street Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in St. Louis. Thousands turned out to watch the first big welcome home parade in the U.S. since the last troops left Iraq in December.

ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis parade welcoming home Iraq War and other post-Sept. 11 veterans was such a hit that at least 10 other cities around the country are considering similar celebrations.

Organizers of the parade, which drew an estimated 100,000 observers and 20,000 participants in St. Louis on Jan. 28, said Friday that they have been approached by people from Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Seattle, Tucson, Ariz., Nashville, Tenn., Greensboro, N.C., and Clinton, Iowa.

"The revolution for America to rally in support of our troops has just begun," said Tom Appelbaum, who along with his friend, Craig Schneider, came up with the idea for the St. Louis parade and pulled it off within a month.

Read more on NBCNewYork.com

In New York City, Speaker Christine C. Quinn and others on the City Council have been pushing for a ticker-tape parade for troops.

"While military operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere have not concluded, the fact remains that our military has made commendable achievements in Iraq," Quinn told NBC News.  "To that end, a citywide celebration recognizing the incredible contribution these soldiers have made in the name of freedom is in order."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg hasn't backed the idea so far, because officials in Washington "think a parade would be premature while we still have so many troops in harm's way around the world," NBCNewYork.com reported.

"While we are very appreciative of the offer to host a parade to recognize the significant accomplishment of those who have served in Iraq, I have expressed the concern that I don't think it is appropriate while we still have forces engaged in combat operations in Afghanistan,” Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told NBCNewYork.com.

The St. Louis parade was the first major event honoring post-Sept. 11 veterans since the war in Iraq ended in December. Now, organizers in other cities are tapping into their expertise.

PhotoBlog: St. Louis hosts first big parade to welcome Iraq War veterans

Alan Toppel, a 79-year-old retired businessman from Tucson, was in St. Louis Friday to gather information on organizing a similar parade.

"When I saw that this parade was done, and the magnitude of the parade, I was thinking that this is something we can do in Tucson," he said. "This is something we need to do in Tucson."

Toppel said he has received a positive response from civic leaders. He will meet with city officials next week and is moving toward the goal of hosting a parade by the end of March.

The St. Louis parade drew a festive and often emotional crowd. Fire truck aerial ladders hoisted huge American flags over the parade route. Marching bands played "God Bless America" and "America the Beautiful." Even the Budweiser Clydesdales clopped along the route.

The loudest cheers, though, were for the troops themselves, many marching in camouflage. Some had tears in their eyes as well-wishers reached out to shake hands or give them hugs.

Schneider and Appelbaum said the idea began in December with a simple conversation between the two of them about why there were no big celebrations to mark the end of the Iraq War. So they sought donations, launched a Facebook page, met with the mayor and mapped a route. The grassroots effort cost less than $40,000.

Some questioned if a parade was even appropriate given the ongoing war against terrorism and the continued deployment of 91,000 troops in Afghanistan. Many of the Iraq War vets interviewed at the St. Louis parade conceded they might be redeployed to Afghanistan.

Still, the response to the parade was overwhelming in St. Louis, and the response from around the nation has been the same, said Army Maj. Rick Radford, a parade participant now volunteering with the Welcome Home Foundation. The foundation, formed by the St. Louis organizers, encourages more parades and seeks funding to help veterans connect with resources as they return home.

Radford said he hopes to see even more cities get involved.

"If we can pull off a parade in 30 days, I believe every city should be able to honor our veterans with a parade," Radford said.

NBC News contributed to this report from The Associated Press.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News

• Where the (good) jobs are going to be
• Law schools face lawsuits over job-placement claims
• Too crazy to kill? Supreme Court asked to decide
• Police: Ex-Marine charged in homeless killing linked to more deaths
• Controversial Georgia bishop crowned 'king' at church