At least we have body armor. I read about some of the fatal wounds from WWII and Vietnam, and it's just pathetic. One that stood out in my mind was the SOG in Vietnam--this one SOG team was being chased by an NVA patrol. A mortar round blew up a tree near one of the operators and a splinter from the tree pierced his heart, killing him instantly. A complete waste of a well-trained warrior. Nowadays, such losses are minimized.
But, according to this article, not as minimized as they could be or should be.
We had body armor back then that would protect you from this kind of shrapnel wound, but we elected not to wear it. For every ounce of weight you carried on your body, you sacrificed a certain amount of mobility, and lack of mobility would kill a recon team much quicker than the occasional bits of shrapnel ever could.