[R. Scott]

I did a quick calculation that shows that total military deaths as compared to active military personal, and the figures for the past three years, while higher than in non-war times…

I never made a major training exercise without some soldier dying in an accident. We often lost people in regular peacetime missions.

[spintreebob]

I was a personnel clerk in 'Nam in a long row of tents of personnel clerks. We recorded the "duty to dead".

Consistently, the #1 killer in 'Nam when I was there was drunken traffic accidents in no way related to combat.

But we were all told to make the record show, and send the letters home to the family, "Your loved one died a hero fighting for his country."

I'm under the impression that there is much less drunkeness in Iraq and in the Army these days. But I'm not there and where can good info be found on what is actually happening there? Both sides are much more "spin conscious" than in 66-67 when both sides already did a lot of spinning.