Highest rate since the 80's, I found that interesting. What was going on in 1980?

I was wondering the same thing Howie. Anybody know? Or is this just anti-war propaganda.

I'm not too keen on the war either, BTW.

I think keeping soldiers in the battle for extended periods is always bad. Dessertion is probably not the only problem resulting from our current policies.

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That's unfortunate. Perhaps those young fellows will figure out oneday that divine right is not endowed by the brain of whatever pres-dent was most recently able to con enough of the American public to put him on the big gravy train.

Plenty of other formidable armies in the past have met long and painful ruination by embarking on a foolish campaign.

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Reality Check Chicken Little!

Wiki “US Army Personnel as of 2007/8/31 1,055,734 actual 2007 rate of desertion 9 per 1000 (less than 1% !) 9501.606 desertions. So less than 1% (0.9%) desertion rate ( as opposed to a prewar Clinton army rate of 0.5%) equals the 80% increase!!!!! 42% over last year 2006 – 0.7% vs. 2007 – 0.9%! Statistically insignificant unless you have nothing better to offer. When any thoughtful person considers the rate of dessertions vs. the rate of reenlistments (although I have not been able to find the actual 2007 total number the renlistment goal was 80,000 ( at minimum 7.58%) and the media widely reports that goal had not only been been achieved but exceeded) over the same time period, one can only conclude that the posting of such out of context information is nothing less than irresponsible sensationalism! Already this statistical garbage is heralded loudly and frequently from and by most liberal media, talking heads, politicos, and the great unwashed left leaning koolaid drinking masses. Fortunately such conduct only further reveals how foolish some have become!

On a side note you’ve got to wonder how the other Gurkha’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorkha) really feel about stuff like this happening!?

Good luck and Semper Fidelis!

"Wouldn't you desert as well after so many years of useless war and no progress?

No! And 99.1% agree! It's clear; if you have never served, you will never know!

Someone needs to compare the size of the Army vs. desertions, as you said the numbers are misleading as presented.

For example if you take 2 points in time, at one point the rate is 7 per 1000 and the other is 9 per 1000 thats a big jump. But lets say the Army only had 1000 at the first point and 10000 at the second. The rate is .7% the first time and .09% the second. Clinton gutted the military so comparing desertion rates in those times is a joke.

As an aside, the number of annual military deaths in active duty is less since the war started than it was before the war. You don't see that on the news.

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MB-less

Clinton was following what Bush41 did.


"The reductions I have approved will save us an additional $50 billion over the next 5 years. By 1997, we will have cut defense by 30 percent since I took office."

G.H.W.Bush 1992 State of the Union speach

Back on the subject, what was the desertion rate in 1980 and before? Why was the rate high then when the US military had nothing more than garrison duty in Europe and the Pacific?

B

Why do Hindus, a peace-loving religion by all accounts, dynamite mosques and murder Muslims in the name of some historical wrong done a thousand years ago or more? Why does Hinduism support institutionalized discrimination by class?

Is it Bush's and the neocons at work? Is it the Christian rightwing? Is it war profiteers and the captains of industry? What is it that the USA has done to cause these problems in Indian society?

That should prime the pump rather nicely.

Sure, go ahead by all means, but it has no relevance here. India is full of problems, no denying that. It doesn't concern me in any way, I am a US citizen so what goes on here affects me more than what happens in India. India's problems are being dealt by them and with all problems, it manages to rise as the fourth largest economy with second highest number of billionaires after US including one of them who is at the top of the list and whose wealth is more than combined number of billionaires from China. Or the fact that there are more entrepreneurs coming up daily than China. Sure there are problems, but then the whole world is full of problems and I can bring on a pile of them. Would this tit for tat action solve US's problems, don't think so.

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Maybe they thought it was going to be to dangerous.


Government Report: More Military Deaths in Some Years of Peace Than War
Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Digg This!
More active members of the military died during two years of peacetime in the early 1980s than died during a two-year period of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a government report.

The Congressional Research Service, which compiled war casualty statistics from the Revolutionary War to present day conflicts, reported that 4,699 members of the U.S. military died in 1981 and '82 — a period when the U.S. had only limited troop deployments to conflicts in the Mideast. That number of deaths is nearly 900 more than the 3,800 deaths during 2005 and '06, when the U.S. was fully committed to large-scale military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The CRS, which is the public policy research arm of Congress, issued its findings in the June report "American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics."

FOXNews.com, in re-examining the findings, found that — surprising as it may be — there were more active duty deaths in some years of peacetime than there were in some years of wartime.

Military analysts say the current decrease in military casualties, even during a time of war, is due to a campaign by the Armed Forces to reduce accidents and improve medical care on the battlefield.

"It's safer to be in the military because your accidental death rate has gone down; it's safer to be in the military because if you get wounded, you'll probably survive," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org.

"Getting killed on the battlefield is one way that people in the military wind up dying, but it's not the main way."

According to the raw figures, of the 2,380 members of the military who died during active duty in 1981, 1,524 were killed in accidents, 145 by homicide, 457 by illness and 241 from self-inflicted wounds. That compares with the 1,942 killed in 2005; of that number, 632 died from accidents, 739 from hostile action, 49 from homicide, 281 from illness, 150 from self-inflicted wounds and 72 whose causes of death were still pending. Eleven deaths in ’81 and 19 deaths in ’05 were classified as “undetermined.”

Click here to read the report.

"Let's not somehow pretend or try to convey the false impression that being at war is being safer than being at peace, of course not," said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute.

"If we stopped these wars we would cut back our annual military fatalities by close to a thousand people, and that's just simple arithmetic."

The numbers, which outline active-duty deaths from 1980 to 2006, show a steady decline in accidents. Experts attribute that decline to campaigns to curb off-duty partying and drunk driving, as well as offering better training before putting troops in hazardous situations. There also are fewer active military members today; the total number of active servicemen and women decreased from a 1986 high of 2.18 million troops to the 2006 level of 1.38 million.

Doug Johnson, a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., said that initial treatment and airlifts during the so-called "golden hour" after a soldier is wounded have significantly increased troop survival rates.

"You don't hear the classic war movie cry for 'Medics, medics,' because everybody's a medic to a certain extent," he said.

The death-to-wounded ratio has also improved, the study found. Nearly 8 people are wounded for every one who dies in Operation Iraqi Freedom versus the 1 death to 1.7 wound ratio found during World War II.

And the combined totals for illness, homicide, accident and suicide trump troop casualty numbers, Pike said.

"Previously in a war, if you were wounded, you were in big trouble," Pike said. "And now if you're wounded, you're probably going to make it."

But Johnson said it's important to look beyond the raw data.

"The thing that distresses me about it, is it's raw numbers. And while that's interesting, it doesn't reflect percentages, which might be more instructive," he said.

X2 Its funny how the numbers paint a different story without the liberal journalistic spin.

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Here is what General Patton has to say about currant events!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyUX6wV1lBQ

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Here's an article about desertions that contains all the figures, and more, that you have cited. And it's from a news source generally identified as "liberal".
When the actual number of deserters from year to year is compared, the results are far from insignificant.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/16/national/main3513410.shtml?source=mostpop_story

If the profiteers lose control in the upcoming elections this will all change. God help us if they don't.

If Clinton gets in, watch the military personnel get out.