More military members die in training accidents than combat. The reason is simple. Combat is not all the time. But training for combat is,
During the Reagan years we averaged over 2,000 deaths a year in the military without combat.
Several years ago, in casual “after work” conversation with colleagues over drinks, one of our French co-workers commented about “America’s love of war.” When asked for clarification, he explained he served with American troops in the ME. He thought US soldiers and special forces were excited to go into battle to kill people and break things. That puzzled him and his fellow French soldiers. John, also a combat vet in our conversation (Army Ranger I think), explained,
“It’s not excitement to kill people and break things as much as it is getting to implement the rigorous training that we constantly do. It’s like training and practicing for a sport everyday of your life for years but never getting to play a game against another team. We finally get to put our toys and training to the test.”
I got a kick out of that but was sure it only further confounded the Frenchman. These guys are true warriors.