India, May 12 -- Was speaking last evening to a man whose wife is an army officer posted somewhere near the treacherous snow-dusted stretches of Kashmir. He looked like a calm man-not the kind you'd expect to betray his emotions-but there, behind his tired smile, sat a pair of eyes that had clearly forgotten sleep.

"She says don't worry," he told me, stirring his tea with more force than necessary, "but you know what 'don't worry' means?"

I did know.

Their two children were playing nearby, and every now and then, they'd sneak a glance at their father, checking his mood like you'd check the weather before a school trip. Children have a way of sensing things. They laugh and run around, but you can see it-the unease, the questions they're...