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Death rate for Guard tops that of full-time soldiers death rate higher in Iraq

395 views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  RowansDad 
#1 ·
This news won't help the decline in retension in the Guard and Reserves:

"According to figures furnished by the military branches, the active Army has sent about 250,000 soldiers to Iraq and 622 have been killed. That works out to 1 death for every 402 soldiers who have deployed. Some 37,000 Army Guard soldiers have been sent to Iraq since the war began and 140 have died there - 1 fatality for every 264 soldiers who have served, or about a 35 percent higher death rate.

"There are several reasons for the greater death rates among so-called part-time soldiers, who generally drill one weekend a month and two weeks during the summer when there's no war. The Pentagon has called up thousands of part-time troops for tours of a year or more in Iraq. Some of the most dangerous missions, including driving convoys and guarding bases and other facilities, frequently are assigned to Guard and Reserve troops. Iraqi insurgents have attacked convoys with roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades, and a Tennessee Guardsman publicly complained to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week about the lack of armor on some vehicles."

More here:
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.p...ar=print_story
 
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