Hi Sig; Re: "Only 1/2 our casualties are being shot or blown to little bloody pieces by the enemy."
You presumably looked at the first 100 casualties. That doesn't give an idea of how the war is trending. Instead, take a look at what is going on in the month of January, at least so far:
Name, Age Date Cause
------------------------ ------------ --------------
Sean G. Landrus, 31 Jan 29, 2004 IED
Patrick Dorff, 32 Jan 29, 2004 KIA heli crash
Luke S. James, 24 Jan 27, 2004 IED
Lester O. Kinney II, 27 Jan 27, 2004 IED
Cory R. Mracek, 26 Jan 27, 2004 IED
Matthew J. August, 28 Jan 27, 2004 IED
James T. Hoffman, 41 Jan 27, 2004 IED
Travis A. Moothart, 23 Jan 27, 2004 IED
Keith L. Smette, 25 Jan 24, 2004 IED
Kenneth W. Hendrickson, 41 Jan 24, 2004 IED
Jason K. Chappell, 22 Jan 24, 2004 IED
William R. Sturges Jr., 24 Jan 24, 2004 IED
Randy S. Rosenberg, 23 Jan 24, 2004 IED
Ervin Dervishi, 21 Jan 24, 2004 RPG
Michael T. Blaise, 29 Jan 25, 2004 * Heli crash (CM)
Brian D. Hazelgrove, 29 Jan 25, 2004 * Heli crash (CM)
Gabriel T. Palacios, 22 Jan 21, 2004 Mortar
James D. Parker, 20 Jan 21, 2004 Mortar
Kelly L. Hornbeck, 36 Jan 18, 2004 IED
Roland L. Castro, 26 Jan 16, 2004 * Non Hostile GSW
Cody J. Orr, 21 Jan 17, 2004 IED
Larry E. Polley, Jr Jan 17, 2004 IED
Edmond L. Randle, 26 Jan 17, 2004 IED
Keicia M. Hines, 27 Jan 14, 2004 * Vehicle Accident
Ricky L. Crockett, 37 Jan 12, 2004 IED
Roy A. Wood, 47 Jan 9, 2004 * Vehicle Accident
Jeffrey C. Walker, 33 Jan 8, 2004 Heli crash
Craig Davis, 37 Jan 8, 2004 Heli crash
Philip A. Johnson, Jr., 31 Jan 8, 2004 Heli crash
Ian D. Manuel, 23 Jan 8, 2004 Heli crash
Aaron A. Weaver, 32 Jan 8, 2004 Heli crash
Michael A. Diraimondo, 22 Jan 8, 2004 Heli crash
Gregory B. Hicks, 35 Jan 8, 2004 Heli crash
Nathaniel H. Johnson, 22 Jan 8, 2004 Heli crash
Christopher A. Golby, 26 Jan 8, 2004 Heli crash
Jesse D. Mizener, 24 Jan 7, 2004 Mortar
Luke P. Frist, 20 Jan 5, 2004 IED
Eric T. Paliwoda, 28 Jan 2, 2004 Mortar
Kimberly N. Hampton, 27 Jan 2, 2004 KIA Heli crash
Solomon C. Bangayan, 24 Jan 2, 2004 IED, SA, RPG
Marc S. Seiden, 26 Jan 2, 2004 IED, SA, RPG
Dennis A. Corral, 33 Jan 1, 2004 * Vehicle Accident
Notes:
Date is date of death, not necessarily date of incident.
CM = Combat Mission
IED = Improvised Explosive Device
RPG = Rocket Propelled Grenade
KIA = Killed In Action
GSW = Gun Shot Wound
SA = Small Arms
The DoD lists "Killed in Action" as the cause of death of the most recent helicopter crash. The crash of January 25th is referred to as returning from a combat mission by the military, and it could be an accident. The helicopter crash of January 8 was widely reported to be hit by a missile and breaking into two parts in the air. It happened in Fallujah, the famous hotbed of the rebellion, so I suspect that it was, in fact, shot down.
So of the 42 most recent deaths, only about 14% were non combat.
Hey, the military isn't stupid. If most of our helicopter crashes in Iraq were being caused by equipment malfunctions and accidents the military would be worrying about maintenance, and telling their pilots to fly slowly and carefully, instead of at high speeds close to the ground. And when you fly helicopters like that, you are going to have some "accidents" that really aren't any more accidental than when a plane flies into the ground in the middle of a dogfight.
-- Carl
P.S. I just found this website which gives January 2004 Iraq casualties with cause of death in a convenient manner:
chron.com
Department of Defense links:
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