How dangerous is Iraq?

[PDenton]

I'm just wondering, really, how dangerous Iraq is for soldiers. What are the risks of dying in any given day? What are the odds a soldier who goes over there for a tour will come home?

So far it seems like Iraq is producing alot fewer fatal casualties than Vietnam. But how about overall casualties?

How insane would it be for somebody who is unemployed and can't find a job to join the military and likely go over to Iraq?

[babylonsister]

1. Don't even think about it. It's ridiculously dangerous and anyone

who says otherwise is not telling the truth. Google anything by CNN's Michael Ware for some on-the-spot insight.

Edit to add this site from someone who is there: read his earlier posts.

http://armyofdude.blogspot.com/

[KharmaTrain]

2. Changing Face Of War...

I would submit the question of the safety for soldiers in Iraq depend on the branch they serve in and where they serve. For example, an AF guy in Kurdistan stands far better chances than a Marine running sweeps in Baghdad.

Remember, at its height Vietnam had 500,000 American forces, over 4 times the number that we have in Iraq. We faced a far more organized enemy in Nam...the NVA and Viet Cong forces were far better armed and in far greater numbers than we're facing in Iraq. So numbers can be misleading.

Also, our medical science has improved...solciers who would have bled to death in the field now can be medivac'd for treatment in minutes and many more soldiers survive their injuries now than ever before. Albeit, we're seeing a lot more amputees...also a greater percentage of troops suffering PTSD and other residual traumas...victims of the future.

Lastly, a couple years ago I was on the a flight from LA. Sitting next to me was a young man...he was from East LA and this was his first airplane ride. His destination was Great Lakes Naval Air Station outside Chicago...he eventually would be serving on an Aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. I asked if he could have gone to college instead and he laughed. He couldn't afford college...even a JC...and then what's the use? He'd end up stuck in the bario where jobs are hard to come by...the military was a far better option. I've met others with similar stories...and some (shudder shudder) who felt an obligation to go into the military and felt Iraq was "their sacrafice", just like dad had done in Nam and granddad in Europe.

For every question you ask, there are many answers...it's a good thing to ask, it's an even better thing to get many answers.

Cheers...

[frogcycle]

3. 2-3/day out of 160,000

plus some serious maimings

somebody compare that to drug killings or traffic deaths ststeside. probably not that bad.

i was just thinking about this last night

we really do NOT get any legitimate news.

we hear about the deaths, and we hear about when stuff goes wrong when they kick someone's door in ...


but we don't really have much idea what those 160000 actually DO day-today.

here is a picture of a unit holding a service for a comrade who was killed. They don't do this every day. It is a big deal.



but there are units who have lost a LOT, and when six or eight or more get killed in one day, well, thats a bad day.

I don't know how to put it in perspective, because the news is slanted one way or the other. You can't accept anything as 'the way it really is'

as for comparison to VN, it is nowhere near.

in the worst year VN was killing 50/day with 500000 in theatre. that would be `16/day for a year in Iraq. its been right at 3/day for the past 13 months, and that is higher than the earlier years

[MH1]

4. Fatalities are much lower than in Nam but debilitating injury is near par

I think.

From just the fatalities you might think the Iraq War had much lower casualties than Nam, but what is happening is that soldiers are surviving wounds that would have killed them in the 1960's. Surviving, but with terrible lifelong trauma and disability.

Then there is the mental health consequences of what you will see and do or be asked to do or maybe somehow avoid having to do, but have to see anyway. Perhaps if you were lucky you'd get stationed in one of the photo-op paradises that Fox news shows of soldiers playing with kids at their freshly built schoolhouse. (Assuming that really exists.)

Of course you could also look at it from the perspective of whether it is moral to join an army that is engaged in a war that is causing so much death, injury and destruction to the region we invaded.

Don't do it. Please.

[moondust]

5. 1773 Iraqis killed in August.

Iraq is slightly smaller than Texas but is more populous. If roughly that many were killed per month in Texas would it be called dangerous? As a soldier you would sometimes be in the line of that fire trying to provide "security." Plus IED's targeting vehicles like yours.

Joining the military is ALWAYS a gamble, even in time of peace.

[MiniMe]

6. The reason there are less fatalaties is because of medical advances

So we have more soldiers coming home with devastating injuries. In the Vietnam era, many of those would have died.

edited to add:

So you are less likely to die than Vietnam, but more likely to come home with a devastating injury, including traumatic brain injury.

[tekisui]

7. It would be completely insane.

ANY job one could find outside of the military is life-changingly better.


Wash dishes somewhere. Mow lawns. Serve food. Anything.

This war is illegal. If someone joins the military, today, they are justifying, supporting and participating in war crimes and war profiteering. But, worse, they are sacrificing their lives. Nearly 4,000 have been killed. 50,000+ have been seriously wounded. They will carry a scar or an artificial limb for the rest of their lives. Hundreds of thousands have been traumatized with PTSD.

[PDenton]

9. Some people say riding a motorcycle in insane, too

But I have done that. I do about 2400 miles per year.

I just am wondering how dangerous an Iraq tour is for the average soldier.

The military seems desperate enough for troops, they might take me at age 31. No medical problems but my vision is not perfect even with glasses. I could also sign up with a civilian company, too.

I'm just trying to think of something to do with my life. I am having a really hard time finding a job out in the real world. I'm not ultra patriotic and I think there's alot of troubling stuff about the Iraq war, but a job is a job. Are the liberals providing any alternatives to chronic unemployment? No...

[mvccd1000]

8. Couple of things to consider:

#1) It ENTIRELY depends on your job and where you are stationed. If you're one of the 20,000+ soldiers on Camp Anaconda, for example, who never go outside the wire, your only hazards are going to be mortars and rockets, which are quite ineffective. If, however, you're one of the soldiers who either runs convoys or else patrols the country, your odds of becoming a casualty are going to be substantially greater.

#2) The military is not the only option. Contrary to the opinions on DU that all contractors are mercenaries, there are tens of thousands of Americans over here doing everything from vehicle maintenance to running the gyms for the soldiers, to operating the warehouses and fuel yards.

I've been in Iraq for almost 39 months, and - except for one discomforting incident with a mortar about three months after I arrived, I rarely feel unsafe.

I'd been out of the military for almost 10 years when the Iraq war started, and while I wanted to do something to help, I was not interested in going back in the military; I had done my time. Like many Americans over here, this seemed like the next best way to contribute and support the soldiers. The more civilians who CHOOSE to come over here, the fewer soldiers who HAVE to come over here.

[ljm2002]

10. One reason it seems like Iraq produces fewer casualties...

...is that as per usual, the dialog has been muddied. Back in the days of Vietnam, the word "casualty" was understood by all of us to include the injured as well as the dead (the dictionary definition: someone injured or killed or captured or missing in a military engagement). But these days, reporting has successfully morphed the meaning so that most people think "casualty" means "killed". So the number of people who've been killed is still relatively low.

Add in the 20,000+ who have been injured and now you're starting to look at something approaching parity with Vietnam at this stage. And remember, many of those who survive their wounds will live with debilitating injury for the rest of their lives. Not just PTSD, which is surely bad enough, but loss of limbs, severe brain injury, and other horrors. But our press for the most part glosses over it, or presents their stories as heroic struggles to be admired.

[AlCzervik]

11. lets see when senators and reps visit Iraq now they spend about 6 hours there

compared to trips they took in the past when they would stay for a few days or up to a week. Why are fatalities lower---technology.

[Horse with no Name]

12. Think of it this way

It is probably safer to skateboard through the middle of drive-time LA traffic naked without braking than it is to exist in Iraq.
It is probably safer to pour gas on yourself and walk by a flaming BBQ pit than it is to walk outside of the Green Zone.

[tabasco]

13. Your odds of coming home are very good.

Your odds of coming home with all your limbs is somewhat less.

There are tens of thousands of disabled troops as a result of this quagmire.

In addition to the thousands of dead.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. Our Occupation Is Infinitely More Dangerous For Iraqis

But that doesn't mean our troops aren't in mortal danger...

[Nickster]

15. Why don't you head on over to a VA Hospital and ask some of the soldiers that have been there?

You could also sign up and get an address or two, write to them and see what they say.