Our protectors wear badges and guns. They stand guard, ride the roads, sail the seas and walk the woods to protect us, our property, the shipping lanes, natural resources, our government.

They do this with courage and restraint. Courage, because they never know what will be waiting for them around the next bend. Restraint, because they have to react to threats and the great majority of them, we estimate 99.99 percent, react correctly. We don’t wish to write here about the others.

We appreciate the work of our protectors. And below, we wish to appreciate as well those who stand behind them: their families. Especially one family: the Dermyers.

State Trooper Chad Dermyer of Gloucester lost his life in Richmond last year, shot to death in a shocking encounter during a training exercise at a bus terminal.

How would you react if he had been your loved one? We can only imagine the shock, the grief, the bitterness of having such a vital life cut off. Many people would withdraw quite ...