SubscribeCNS: Military Deaths Down From The 1980s
Now this is what we like to see. Good news actually getting reported.
From our friends at the great Cybercast News Service:
Military Deaths Lower Now Than in 1980s
By Fred Lucas
November 12, 2007(CNSNews.com) - American soldiers died in higher numbers during some of the peace-time years in the 1980s than in recent years when the military has fought conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a government report on casualty rates.
Further, the number of annual U.S. military deaths for the last three years is just slightly above the average annual death toll in the 1990s.
At the same time, the war in Iraq has the lowest death-per-wound ratio of any war going back to World War I, according to the report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS), which studied military deaths in a historical context.
While the number of combat deaths is higher in the military now than two decades ago, the suicide and homicide rate was substantially higher in the 1980s, as were accidents and fatal illnesses, all of which led to a higher death toll among military personnel than in recent years.
The study measures the death toll for every American war and also measures the total death toll per year from 1980 - when 2,392 military personnel died of various non-combat related causes - through 2006, when 1,858 soldiers died in both combat- and non-combat-related action combined.
However, 2006 also saw 753 American soldiers killed in hostile action, compared to no soldiers killed in hostile action in 1980.
One reason for the overall decline in the death toll is that the military population has declined over the last 25 years, experts said. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the military had more than 2 million enlisted in 1980, a number that began to decline in 1992 when it reached 1.8 million, and came down to less than 1.4 million today.
But other reasons, such as medical advances and better safety to prevent fatal accidents have a lot to do with the decline in deaths over time, said Daniel Goure, vice president of the Lexington Institute, a conservative think tank.
“Medical care, whether on the battlefield or trauma, emergency care is so much better today than it was even 20 years ago,” Goure told Cybercast News Service.
“With all the stories of Walter Reed, we forget that the battlefield stuff is just amazing. It’s one reason we have so many wounded, people who have lost limbs. It’s a good thing in a sad way. If we were doing as badly as in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, Walter Reed would be half-empty but the cemeteries would be much fuller,” he added…
“We do a much better job in force protection, personal protection, armor, that we’ve worked very hard on and are getting better and better at,” Goure said.
Some of the decreases in deaths could be expected, said Michael O’Hanlon, a national security expert for the Brookings Institution, a liberal think tank. He stressed that the comparisons in the CRS report are not reason to view nearly 1,000 troops killed per year as a low casualty rate…
The Pentagon reported last week that 2007 has been the deadliest year so far in Iraq despite the five-month decline in casualties since the surge of 30,000 additional American troops began. (See Previous Story) …
Also in 1980, there were 1,156 accidental deaths in the military, compared to 465 in 2006; 174 military personnel were murdered in 1980, compared to 30 murdered in 2006; and there were 231 suicides in 1980 compared to 155 in 2006.
The training exercises are substantially safer as well, said U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Christopher Starling, a fellow with the Hoover Institution.
“DOD as a whole has done a much better job in mitigating risk in the workplace and educating our servicemen and women about off-duty safety,” Starling said in an interview.
“Training now is better than it was in the 80s. Another factor - computers and simulation. We use much more simulation in training. Technology means that we can use weapon simulators to practice safe weapons employment before we transition to live fire. We shoot less live ammunition in training nowadays,” he added.
The number of military suicides, though much-reported in the media recently, is lower than in the 1980s or early 1990s. Since 1996, the number of military suicides per year has been below 200, according to the CRS.
“The Army recorded 17.3 suicides per 100,000 soldiers in 2006,” the report said. “The rate is higher than the rate of suicides in the general population, which ranges from 10 to 11 per 100,000 people annually, but lower than the rate of suicide when adjusted to match the Army’s age and gender characteristics.”
This is primarily because it is an all-volunteer military, a change the military was adjusting to when the draft was dropped after the Vietnam War, said Goure. It’s also because the military is better now at spotting at-risk soldiers, he said.
“Let’s give a little credit to the military. They also are doing a better job of watching out for people who are that way,” Goure said.
“This is an all-volunteer force. You have a different feeling about the people you’re dealing with when you’re all-volunteers. You try a little harder. You care a little more. That I think shows clearly in the suicide rates. Even in war-time, some have gone back three or four times now. We have very high reenlistment rates,” Goure added…
Major kudos to Mr. Lucas for picking up on our piece from November 3, 2007 and expanding on it so brilliantly.
It makes no sense whatsoever for this amazing and encouraging information to be hidden under our mainstream media’s bushel of doom.
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13 Responses to “CNS: Military Deaths Down From The 1980s”
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November 13th, 2007 at 12:57 am
I seem to remember in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s nearly every year during REFORGER some poor squad someplace getting run over in their tents by a tank unit hauling ass through their bivouac. Usually that was at night with smoke cover. Poor guys probably never knew what hit them in most cases.
November 13th, 2007 at 2:27 am
REFORGER, now there’s a term I haven’t heard in a long time. Thanks for bringing back the memories, good and bad. I remember a tank crew parking off a main road to get some sleep. Next morning they cranked up to go (believe it was 2dAD (Fwd). One of the crew members remarked that he smelled anti freeze fluid and thought they had a leak. Tanks don’t use anti freeze fluid…. got out of the tank and found what was left of a VW bug and it’s occupants which had smacked into the tank. One of the crew members recalled hearing a thud during the night, but thought it was snow falling off the trees onto the tank…. True, a tank may be a big target to a die hard infantry guy, but there’s a heck of a lot more things out there that the grunt needs to be aware of that the tanker really doesn’t concern himself with. Crunchies around the tank? “Driver, neutral steer, left”.
November 13th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
But not to be deterred, I heard that Perky Katie Couric is going to do a segment on suicides in the military among Iraqi war veterans. Do you think Ms. Couric will note that suicides were just as high, or higher, under Billy Jeff with only one year being lower than since the Iraq war started?
No, the MSM is no longer reporting news from the front lines since the situation on the ground in Iraq is improving every single damn day. So now they are going to have to look for other stories to report. Can’t report on Iraq, it’s too good. So let’s make up some shit that sounds really bad and put that on instead.
How anyone can deny that the left has invested in the loss of the war in Iraq is beyond me.
November 13th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
“How anyone can deny that the left has invested in the loss of the war in Iraq is beyond me.”
I agree retire05! 100%! The MSM neglects all of the really great success stories coming out of Iraq. Like Michael Yon’s great story and photo, “Thanks and Praise”.
Also, hardly anyone picked up on this story last Friday:
Sunni leaders of Al Anbar province declared they had achieved victory over al-Qaida insurgents during a visit with Vermont veterans at Norwich University Thursday afternoon. The moment reflected their unflagging support for the United States’ war in Iraq. One of the Sheiks in the delegation, Sheik Ahmed Abu Risha, is the son the the Sheik that began the Anbar Awakening. (He was killed last month.)
“Thank you for all your assistance to your friends in Iraq,” Rafe Al-Essawi, former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, told Vermont soldiers through an interpreter.
The Sheiks also had meetings in Washington with President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/a.....004/NEWS03
http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/78093/
Thank God for the bloggers and websites like S&L or we’d never have access to the truth!
November 13th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
The troops in Iraq are staying put, not going on near as many missions. Ethnic cleansing
has about ran its course. Many Sunni militias which the US helped fight al Qaeda will in time
turn their attacks on the Shia-dominated government, if that government does not concede to
Sunni demands. The government itself is pro-Iranian, if incapable of controlling much beyond the Green Zone at this time. Al Sadr has effected a temporary truce for his men. The Sunnis used
American support to eradicate foreign al Qaeda, but are also anti-American.
Bottom line. There is still much bloodshed to occur in Iraq. Indeed more people are leaving than returning to Baghdad at present,despite the government’s distorted claims. And the Iraqi government
when it finally solidifies, will be anti-American and anti-Israel. This is “victory?” No wonder the
public is still overwhelmingly opposed to the war.
November 13th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Euroruss, you need to brush up on your reading skills. None of the (highly dubious) points you make apply to this article.
And, for the record, with the surge there have been more missions — not fewer. Just to note one of your many mistaken assertions.
November 13th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
I like SG would like to see some numbers on the missions being fewer, I have little use for unfounded claims, Or rectal extrapolations.
As far as any group being anti American, Whats new there? Any group fighting terrorism and still being anti America is still the best of limited options, At least the two sides are fighting a common enemy.
This at least eliminates the more immediate threat.
As far as the new government being anti-American and anti-Israel, Again whats new?
Would you rather have unstable dictators in control, Or some form of representative government?
As far as I can tell you have a very narrow view of victory.
If some form of peace can be reached in the middle east, That’s a victory.
Running away when the going gets tough is a loss, running away when progress is made is just plain ludicrous
November 13th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
This is how expert Professor Juan Cole put it on his site.
“If the “take, clear and hold” strategy of clearing guerrillas out of Baghdad neighborhoods has been successful, and if Iraqi security forces can continue the “hold” stage on their own, and if Sunni Arab guerrillas and Shiite militias don’t reemerge in the neighborhoods that the US abandons in the capital, then violence looks set to hold at some 10,000 civilian deaths a year.
That level of violence is horrible, among the worst in the world. But the American Right, having promised us garlands, then democracy and secularism, then peace both in Iraq and in Israel & Palestine, has finally declared that an ongoing low intensity guerrilla war is a glorious victory and is ‘turning the corner.’
November 13th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Gee sorry we didnt fix 2000 years of waring in the middle east in just a few weeks or months.
We should just let it continue, Hell ignore it even, Hell whats the worst that can happen.
November 26th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Body counts have little to nothing to do with the worthiness and justification for any war. Statistics like this also minimize the individual lives lost. Some wars are just and worthy (WWII, Afghanistan, Civil War, the first Gulf War,) others are not, like Iraq, for example. When a nation of people are lead in to a war, like lemmings, under false pretenses, where not even the leaders of the war would initially provide true cause, then that nation eventually becomes a nation of sheep, lead to eventual slaughter.
You do not have to be beaten militarily to lose your soul, and there are many ways to lose wars. The economy, and the falling value of the dollar, is just one example.
The problem with a hawk, is that it only knows violent force and death to acquire what it needs. While it is away, hunting its prey, the snakes invade its nest, to feast on its offspring. And eventually, it too dies, becoming vile nutrition for the insects and gnats of the world. Great nations are almost always born out of progress, spirit, high moral values, and with revolution over repression, with their hawk-like claws, a justification for a just war. But all throughout history, great nations die. They die out of arrogance and isolationism. What makes anyone think we are any different, especially when, as a nation, we are succumbing to the same traps of self-righteousness?
The events of September 11, 2001, were criminal, of the most abhorrent kind. The perpetrators should be hunted down, tried, and/or killed for their crimes. An example should be made of them for their evil and antipathetic deeds.
Instead, this disaster of a regressive American administration has lead America down a different, darker path, of which we will never fully recover. Even if we eventually “win” this supposed war in Iraq, our economy will never fully recover, and our soul will be forever tarnished. This war has been, and will continue to be, funded, unnecessarily, on the backs of our children, and our children’s children, and their children’s children. Their standard of living will not be as good as ours has been, nor as good as it could have been. Our economy will continue to shrink, and our production possibilities will be forever restricted, never to be realized as they could have been. Our country, will never be the same.
All of this, for a bunch of lies, and a power grab, by a few despicable and misguided individuals…all too good and high-and-mighty to bother themselves with the truth…and the Constitution of the United States.
“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little T emporary Safety , deserve neither Liberty nor Safety .” - Ben Franklin
Yet, some of us, instead of admitting a fault, and doing what it takes, as quickly as possible, to repair what we have done, choose to continue to propagate the lies through whatever tomfoolery and pointless statistic we can find. “It’s the media! Down with the media! They don’t report the Truth!” Blah. Blah. Blah.
The truth of the pudding, my friends, is in the eating. And right now, the press, especially the so called Fair and Balanced press of Fox News, has been spoon-fed this pudding from day one, and so many people, like gluttons for fear and control, continue to eat it like there is nothing left on Earth to eat.
My hope for this country, is that one day soon, very soon, we cease to be sheep, and once again, become conscious of what has truly made this country great, to regain our souls, and become the shepherds our founding fathers provided us the foundation to be, and the Greatest Generation afforded us.
Good night.
November 26th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Damn I guess I’m going to have to take care of this myself….
“This is how expert Professor Juan Cole put it on his site.”
so….euroruss…you cite a left-wing American hating professor as your expert witness? Do you believe everything you read or someone posts on a blog as gospel? If you do, you really need help. Or maybe you just want to believe everything you read that happens to be anit-American. Get your facts right and come back when you’re loaded with more than a toothpick to fight off the bears.
karlfrankjr appears to be a Ron Paul Bot…..he has all of Paul’s talking points down pat. And note that he offers no backup for anything he says or alleges. It’s going to get worse the closer the election we are….time to break out the bug and roach killer.
November 26th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
Damn I guess I’m going to have to take care of this myself….
One of those old time high -volume toilets would take care of euroboy real quick.
The ones we have today may take a few extra flushes.
November 26th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
“Instead, this disaster of a regressive American administration has lead America down a different, darker path, of which we will never fully recover. Even if we eventually “win” this supposed war in Iraq, our economy will never fully recover, and our soul will be forever tarnished.”
Hyperbolize much?