It seems that all people today want to do is to talk about the number of US military being killed in Iraq. I think that a little perspective is in order. I developed the following figures from various web sites.
World War One: 2 million served in theater, 116,000 were killed for a mortality rate of 5.8%. In other words, out of every 100 people who served in theater, 6 lost their lives.
World War two: 16 million served, 400,000 lost their lives. This gives a total, mortality rate of 2.5%.
Korea: 1.7 million served in theater, 36,000 lost their lives. Mortality rate, 2.1%.
Vietnam: 3.4 million served in theater, 58,000 lost their lives. Mortality rate of 1.7%.
Iraq: To date, about 1.5 million have served in theater, and about 3300 have lost their lives. This gives us a mortality rate of .2%, or 2 tenths of one percent.
The Iraq war, or campaign is one of the least lethal wars we have ever fought.
Understand, I am not making light of the sacrifice made by those who have died, but I think it instructive that of the wars the US has fought in the past 100 years, the Iraq war, or campaign(whichever term you prefer) is one of the least deadly, and has one of the lowest mortality rates.
My point is simple. Those who report on the war should acknowledge this fact, move on, and start looking at what we are accomplishing .
2 comments:
What really bothers me is that the reporters seem to be dwelling on the deaths, and doing it in a smug, "I told you so" manner, which is really disgusting. The media seems to be pissing on the graves of these soldiers. Some journalists demonstrate a kind of malicious glee that makes me want to slap their faces.
Princess,
I was to young to serve in Vietnam, but remember the media then doing much the same thing. The lesson is simple, don't believe anything the media says about Iraq. Remember this when your unit deploys you.
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