[VeniVidiVici]

IIRC, he and his driver were killed instantly in a run-of-the-mill head-on car accident soon after he got to Iraq.

General Patton was killed in an accident.

As you point out, in the military they are not uncommon.

[VOA]

Just a sidebar...the fellow I mentioned has been nicely memorialized:

Library to be dedicated to fort soldier killed in Iraq
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1666205/posts