“In looking at statistics over time one must look at percentages. That allows for an apples to apples comparison over different time periods.”
For the record, The highest math I took in college was Discrete Structures, after Calculus IV. That is, if you don’t count Advanced Physics.
We are not examining ratios, relationships or percentages. We are counting the number, the NUMBER, of dead service-members and comparing them from year to year.
What percentage the deceased makeup of the armed forces is not the the topic here. It is the NUMBER of service-people killed in peacetime compared to the NUMBER of service-people killed during wartime.
This is not statistics, it is an examination of public record.
Are you saying that fewer soldiers die from accidents, illness and other non-combat causes when troops are at war?
We already know how many troops died in combat. For 2006, there were around 750, according to the chart. The other 1,100 were deaths that theoretically would have happened even had we not been at war in Iraq. I just don’t see how this provides any information. The 1,100 or so non-combat related deaths, seem to be around the same as the number of non-combat deaths in other years.