Signing a few letters every day could be done in a couple of minutes - he could do it at his stand-up desk while having his morning coffee.
People used to get a telegram to tell them their loved one had been killed in action. If I'm killed over there, I don't want Rummy wasting time signing a letter to my wife when he doesn't even know me. This is a bogus issue designed to chip away at the SOD by people who despise him. Since when was the Sec of Def required to do this? Did they do it during the Clinton years, say, when Aspen screwed up Somalia? How about the Civil War? When we used to lose thousands in a single battle or when we lost thousands when a ship was sunk we were more serious. Kill the enemy was our solution. Now it's bog down the Sec of Def in the proper ettiquette of the RIP card.