1 million U.S. troops have gone to war

[bemildred]

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Nearly a million U.S. troops have been deployed for war in Iraq or Afghanistan since those conflicts began, according to Pentagon data.

The data also show that one out of every three of those service members has gone more than once.

The Pentagon confirmed to United Press International Wednesday that a cumulative total of 955,000 troops from all military services had been deployed for Operation Iraqi or Enduring Freedom by the end of September. More than 300,000 of those troops have been deployed more than once, the Pentagon said.

One government source said the total number of troops deployed has likely hit 1 million since then.

UPI

[bloom]

1. don't hear numbers like that much

sometimes it sounds like only 150,000 are there and it's the same ones that never get to leave or something.

[Erika]

2. But it's just those kids who don't have rich parents...

The affluent keeps their kids safe and out of harms way. They sacrifice the middle and lower class kids, I'm sure with heavy hearts.
Sarcasm intended.

[disillusioned1]

3. This is interesting

I don't know the author, but here's a little snippet of his work:

.....

"The long-term survival of a tribe depends on the production of healthy children, and this is gated by the number of healthy fertile women. The younger a woman is, the more future time she will usually have to create babies. The healthier she is, the more likely she is to get pregnant and the more likely it is that her children will survive and prosper. So from a strictly utilitarian point of view, a young healthy woman is the most valuable member of the tribe, in the sense that her loss will damage the future prospects of the tribe more than loss of anyone else. Loss of a young healthy woman is implicitly the loss of several children.

Interestingly, the least valuable member of a tribe is a young man. A significant number of young men can be lost without substantially damaging the ability of the tribe to create and raise children. (If too many are lost it can leave the tribe with inadequate supplies of food, or inadequate ability to defend itself. But a few can be lost without really hurting the tribe.)

Older men are actually more valuable to the tribe than young men (on a utilitarian basis) because of their accumulated knowledge and experience.

.....

It's no accident that soldiers are young men. It's equally no accident that people recoil from the idea of young women being front-line soldiers. When you ask someone why this is wrong, they usually won't be able to answer -- but they'll be certain nonetheless. They just know it. (It's instinctive.)

.....

http://denbeste.nu/essays/beautiful.shtml

[teach1st]

4. Thinking similar to the support of destroying sick..

..and deformed babies to strengthen the overall tribe.

[saigon68]

5. SEIG HEIL

His handsome face was set with a kind smile, his uniform impeccably tailored, cleaned and pressed. He was cheerfully whistling an opera tune, one of his favorites by Wagner. His eyes betrayed nothing but a cursory interest in the drama that was unfolding before him, the drama of which he alone was the chief architect. He carried a riding crop, but rather than using it to strike the prisoners as they passed before him, he merely used it to indicate which direction he selected them to go in, links oder rechts, left or right. Unbeknownst to the prisoners, this charming and handsome officer with the innocuous demeanor was engaging in his favorite activity at Auschwitz, selecting which new arrivals were fit to work and which ones should be sent immediately to the gas chambers and crematorium. Those sent to the left, roughly 10 to 30 percent of all new arrivals, had their lives spared, at least for the moment. Those sent to the right, usually 70 to 90 percent of all new arrivals, had been condemned to die without even a passing glance from their judge and jury at Auschwitz. The handsome officer who held omnipotent sway over the fate of all the camp’s prisoners was Dr. Josef Mengele, the Angel of Death.