January 15, 200818 yr While the loss of any military member is tragic and I don't want in any way to understate the loss of lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, I've always known that being in the military is dangerous, whether in peace or at war. When I was on active duty during peacetime, I was aware of many Marines dying during training exercises and had to investigate several tragedies. I got the below info in an e mail today which put some numbers behind my thoughts. I have not verified the accuracy of the numbers however. It is interesting and definite food for thought if accurate. The following is the e mail: "Subject: Military losses, 1980 through 2006 Military losses, 1980 through 2006 These are some rather eye-opening facts. Since the start of the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan, the sacrifice has been enormous. In the time period from the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, through today, we have lost over 3,000 military personnel to enemy action and accidents. As tragic as the loss of any member of the US Armed Forces is, consider the following statistics: The annual fatalities of military members while actively serving in the armed forces from 1980 through 2006: 1980 ........ 2,392 1981 . 2,380 1984 ......... 1,999 1988 .......... 1,819 1989 . 1,636 1990 ........ 1,508 1991 ......... 1,787 1992 . 1,293 1993 ......... 1,213 1994 .......... 1,075 1995 . 2,465 1996 ........ 2,318 Clinton years @14,000 deaths 1997 . 817 1998 ......... 2,252 1999 .......... 1,984 2000 . 1,983 2001 .......! .. 890 2002 ..... ..... 1,007 2003 . 1,410 2004 .......... 1,887 2005 ....... 919 2006....... 920 Bush years (2001-2006): 7,033 deaths If you are confused when you look at these figures, so was I. Do these figures mean that the loss from the two latest conflicts in the Middle East are LESS than the loss of military personnel during Mr. Clinton's presidency; when America wasn't even involved in a war? And, I was even more confused; when I read that in 1980, during the reign of President (Nobel Peace Prize winner) Jimmy Carter, there were 2,392 US military fatalities! These figures indicate that many members of our Media and our Politicians will pick and choose. They present only those "facts" which support their agenda-driven reporting. Why do so many of them march in lock-step to twist the truth? Where do so many of them get their marching-orders for their agenda? Our Mainstream ! Print and TV media, and many P politicians like to slant; that the se brave men and women, who are losing their lives in Iraq, are mostly minorities! Wrong AGAIN ?" just one more media lie! The latest census, of Americans, shows the following distribution of American citizens, by Race: European descent (White) ..... 69.12% Hispanic ........................... 12.5% Black............................... 12.3% Asian . 3.7% Native American .................... 1.0% Other ............................... 2.6% Now... here are the fatalities by Race; over the past three years in Iraqi Freedom: European descent (white) ...... 74.31% Hispanic . 10.74% Black ............................... 9.67% Asian ............................... 1.81% Native American . 1.09% Other ................................ 0.33% You do the Math! These figures don't lie, but, Media-liars figure and they sway public opinion ! (These statis tics are published by Congress! ional Research Service, and they may be confirmed by anyone at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf > ) Now ask yourself this question: 1. Why does the mainstream Print and TV Media never print statistics like these?" Any thoughts?
January 15, 200818 yr If these numbers are accurate this stands in direct contrast to the picture that the Dems are trying to paint. I would be interested to know how many terrorists attacks were against American interests in the Clinton years compared to Bush years.
January 15, 200818 yr 1982....2,319 1983....2,465 1985....2,252 1986....1,984 1987....1,987 Average per year of presidency: Reagan - 2,150 Bush I - 1,556 Clinton - 1,284 Bush II- 1,229
January 15, 200818 yr 1982....2,319 1983....2,465 1985....2,252 1986....1,984 1987....1,987 Average per year of presidency: Reagan - 2,150 Bush I - 1,556 Clinton - 1,284 Bush II- 1,229 I don't believe the size of the military has remained constant over that time span. I think it would be appropriate to normalize those figures by the average number of active duty military serving in those period. For example, 100 deaths per 100,000 active duty military. I'm not directing this comment at you specifically, HHSDad, just making the observation using the numbers in your post.
January 15, 200818 yr I believe the military was down about a third between 1981 and 2005. I thought one of Reagan's big claim to fame was rebuilding the military?
January 15, 200818 yr I thought one of Reagan's big claim to fame was rebuilding the military? Don't know what it was before him but during his time it was around 2 million and was around 1.4 million by the late 90's.
January 15, 200818 yr Don't know what it was before him but during his time it was around 2 million and was around 1.4 million by the late 90's. Average # of active duty: Reagan - 2,135,000 Bush I - 1,969,000 Clinton - 1,469,000 (1,372,000 in last year) Bush II - 1,404,000
January 15, 200818 yr I found this chart in the link provided in the original post. The numbers seem different. Am I missing something?
January 15, 200818 yr Where is the mathemagician when we need to know how the casualties breakdown compared to # of soldiers?
January 15, 200818 yr Where is the mathemagician when we need to know how the casualties breakdown compared to # of soldiers? And that's how accounting majors and other mathematicians can get paid descent money to work as campaign advisors. You've gotta love politics.
January 15, 200818 yr How did all of those loses occur during times of peace? Training accidents, general accidents, police operations and so on. I have said it many times over, despite having our troops in numerous areas at once and involved incombat we have not declared war since WWII. Most people seem to forget that. Accodring to our constitution only Congress has that power, being given the power temporarily by congress to use troops more or less equates to police actions(and a number of other euphamisms).
January 15, 200818 yr How did all of those loses occur during times of peace? In a typical year, 1/2 to 2/3 are accidental deaths. During Clinton's 8 years, that were 376 that died as a result of hostile action and another 1,279 that were murdered. 1,224 died from illness.
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