Neither shock nor awe was evident Wednesday night when the last combat troops crossed the border from Iraq into Kuwait. Rather, the soldiers showed jubilation and relief as the Army’s 4th Stryker Brigade, Second Infantry Division left the country where they and their counterparts had been fighting for the last seven and a half years. Their families surely felt the same.

The temptation was to proclaim the war over, but military and political experts warned against that. Some U.S. 50,000 troops will remain in Iraq after the Aug. 31 deadline to end combat operations. Their role as trainers and advisors is unlikely to be a deterrent to suicide and roadside bombers determined to kill and maim.

Yet, surely the official end of combat and the return of around 15,000 U.S. troops is cause for celebration.

Just look at all the war accomplished:

The U.S. war on Iraq brought an end to Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship and an end to his life. It prevented Iraq from developing a nuclear arsenal — although whether Saddam ever had such a plan, capability or even ambition remains in dispute. It also ended the regime’s use of biological weapons against enemies and even its own people by effectively dismantling the Iraqi government.

Those are positive results.

These are some of the negative:

Combat operations lasted seven years and five months, longer than either of the World Wars, the Civil War or the Revolutionary War. Only in Afghanistan and Vietnam have U.S. troops fought longer.

The war destroyed the civil and industrial infrastructure of Iraq, leaving its population in poverty and resentful of the long occupation.

The war has cost U.S. taxpayers an estimated $748 billion so far, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service. The number represents 69 percent of the $1.08 trillion Congress has allocated to the war on terror since the 9/11 attacks. It does not take into account any impact on the national economy or service of the national debt.

As huge and painful as the monetary loss has been, by far the more important cost is in human suffering. As of Tuesday, 31,911 U.S. service members had been wounded in hostile action in Iraq, according to the Defense Department. Their injuries range from minor to horrific: traumatic brain injury, blindness, deafness, broken or lost limbs, psychological devastation. The war cost U.S. families 4,418 American lives. The last was Spc. Jamal M. Rhett of Palmyra, N.J., who died Aug. 15 when insurgents attacked his vehicle with grenades. He was 24 years old.

Thousands of good American soldiers have come home to cemeteries and many thousands more to hospitals and rehab. But, finally, they are coming home.

So, yes, let us celebrate the events of the past week. Let us celebrate the return of our troops and enjoy their reprieve from being human targets for as long as they can stay here. Let us honor them and thank them for the sacrifices they and their families have made.

But let us not forget, as they will not forget, that they are still in the military, still committed to defending U.S. freedom against all enemies.

For many of them, Afghanistan is but an order away.