Military desertion rates "plunge," and USA Today says it's bad news.
BY JAMES TARANTO
Best of the Web Today
Wednesday, March 8, 2006
What's for Desert?
The U.S. military's desertion rate "has plunged since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001," USA Today reports:
<<< The Army, Navy and Air Force reported 7,978 desertions in 2001, compared with 3,456 in 2005. The Marine Corps showed 1,603 Marines in desertion status in 2001. That had declined by 148 in 2005.
The desertion rate was much higher during the Vietnam era. The Army saw a high of 33,094 deserters in 1971--3.4% of the Army force. But there was a draft and the active-duty force was 2.7 million.
Desertions in 2005 represent 0.24% of the 1.4 million U.S. forces. >>>
Accompanying the story is a chart that shows Army desertions have declined every year since 2001.
So how does USA package this good news for the military? As bad news: The headline reads "8,000 Desert During Iraq War," and the first paragraph begins:
<<< At least 8,000 members of the all-volunteer U.S. military have deserted since the Iraq war began, Pentagon records show, although . . . >>>
Many in the press seem determined to follow their Iraq-as-Vietnam script, whether or not it's consistent with the facts.
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