Posted on 11/14/2007 7:38:37 AM PST by tobyhill
More active members of the military died during two years of peacetime in the early 1980s than died during a two-year period of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a government report.
The Congressional Research Service, which compiled war casualty statistics from the Revolutionary War to present day conflicts, reported that 4,699 members of the U.S. military died in 1981 and '82 — a period when the U.S. had only limited troop deployments to conflicts in the Mideast. That number of deaths is nearly 900 more than the 3,800 deaths during 2005 and '06, when the U.S. was fully committed to large-scale military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The CRS, which is the public policy research arm of Congress, issued its findings in the June report "American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics."
FOXNews.com, in re-examining the findings, found that — surprising as it may be — there were more active duty deaths in some years of peacetime than there were in some years of wartime.
Military analysts say the current decrease in military casualties, even during a time of war, is due to a campaign by the Armed Forces to reduce accidents and improve medical care on the battlefield.
"It's safer to be in the military because your accidental death rate has gone down; it's safer to be in the military because if you get wounded, you'll probably survive," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Related Post - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1924644/posts
What they ignore is that the military in 1981-82 was about twice the size as it is now.
but what happened to the quagmire?
Probably a couple of things are involved here. For one thing, there were MORE persons in uniform in the early 1980’s than now, and for another, there was a considerably higher number of non-military deaths resulting then (death by auto accident, death by drug overdose, death by altercations between troops or other interactions between troops and civilians).
Then there was the factor of older equipment, resulting in non-combat military-related deaths, from equipment or training failures. Even being in the military service is hazardous, as compared to most civilian occupations. Boot camp is rigorous for a reason.
And today they are much better at extracting the wounded, who would otherwise die on the scene, than twenty-five or thirty years ago.
Even with the decrease in military size, the mission is getting done with relatively few casualties compared with past operations. The do mention a decrease in military size as one of the reasons.
Training is a dangerous job. George W. Bush was in more danger than Al Gore was of crash landing No. 2 pencils
I still remember a safety briefing during basic in 1972 when they told us more troops were killed in the US than in Viet Nam per year. Car accidents accounted for the lion’s share of the fatalities.
Anyone know where I can get year-by-year figures? I recall reading somewhere that more servicemen and women died during peacetime during Clinton’s presidency at one point then died during the bloodiest year in Iraq. Be nice to go straight to the source and see for myself.
Apparently the only time the Democrat Party Leadership cares about our military is when they can use their dead body's as political PR props.
>>>What they ignore is that the military in 1981-82 was about twice the size as it is now.
Nothing is ignored. These are raw numbers, not percentages. And they were not generally being shot at in 1981-82.
Very true! We bought our house from the widow of a National Guard pilot who was killed in a training accident.
Navy pilots are at even greater risk, while the Navy does all they can to reduce the risk of carrier landings, they have lost many pilots (and shipboard personnel) to accidents that occur while practicing them.
bump for later reading
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