Posted on 11/21/2007 2:07:07 PM PST by Graybeard58
"Army desertion rate up 80 percent since '03 Iraq invasion," blared The Associated Press headline atop an article that began, "Soldiers strained by six years at war are deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980."
Sounds pretty bad until one puts 80 percent in context, which the AP didn't try to do, except to frame it to support its premise: Desertions "declined in 2003 and 2004, in the early years of the Iraq war, but then began to increase steadily," reaching "about nine in every 1,000 soldiers" in the year ending Sept. 30.
As journalists are wont to do, the AP picked the military branch with the most desertions and then the most recent year with the lowest rate to compare with today. The 2007 rate was up 80 percent from five per 1,000 in 2003, but it also was slightly below 2001 and 2002, a fact at which the AP only hinted. And in raw numbers, the Army had 4,698 deserters out of more than a half-million soldiers, so they're not deserting en masse.
The AP made no secret that it was trying to put the war in a bad light, writing how "the Army continues to bear the brunt of the war demands with many soldiers serving repeated, lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan." But the further context of history shows recent desertion rates actually are very low. According to the Department of Defense, the desertion rate for the U.S. military during the Korean War peaked at 22 per 1,000 in 1952, and it spiked to as high as 74 per 1,000 during the Vietnam War.
The rate in 1944 was 63 per 1,000, but don't hold your breath for an article that reports the 2007 desertion rate is 80 percent below what it was when "the Greatest Generation" fought World War II.
Remember the saying, "figures don't lie but liars do figure."
Ping to a Republican-American Editorial.
If you want on or off this list, let me know and don’t eat too much turkey.
Media full of shiite Bump
So it's lower now than it was in a peacetime setting.
This is so out of character for A.P. (Like hell it is...)
Total bravo sierra.
Less than one percent :
4,698 deserters out of more than a half-million soldiers
What was it after Eddie Slovik got his just punishment? Something tells me it dropped precipitously, as Eisenhower had expected.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/11/military_desertion_rates_and_t.html
US ARMY Desertions:
2000 3,949 8.16 per 1,000
2001 4,597 9.50 per 1,000
2002 4,483 9.26 per 1,000
The rate for years 2000, 2001 and 2002 was higher than it has been during the Iraq War. This is in the American Thinker link above.
So, let’s see if I have AP’s numbers right: if 8 in every 1,000 are “deserting” (I don’t know if that includes AWOL for a few hours, or late getting back to base, or anything other than running for Canada), that means that over 99% of our soldiers are NOT deserting? Why don’t they print that?
The LameStreamMedia is pushing their agenda and the agend of the Dems of surrender.
Gee AP (Awful Press service): “thanks for telling us the “desertion rate” was a massive 0.9% vs 0.5%. I wonder what the other 99.1% of the troops or the prior 99.4% of the troops think the “heavy toll” the Iraq war is taking.
Has the AwfulPress agency ever sunk lower or exposed it’s leftist alliance in any greater fashion??
A lot of us know what the mainstream media’s agenda is and therefore we view their statistics with distrust. It’s just sad that there are still many who buy into their tripe.
This combined with the military taking away reenlistment bonuses to wounded troops is insidious!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.