Mess O'Potamia is proving deadly for the Guard and Reserve men and women who are going over there...you know the ones with half the benefits and all the risk...
The National Guard and Reserves are suffering a strikingly higher share of U.S. casualties in Iraq, their portion of total American military deaths nearly doubling since last year.
Reservists have accounted for one-quarter of all U.S. deaths since the Iraq war began, but the proportion has grown over time. It was 10 percent for the five weeks it took to topple Baghdad in the spring of 2003, and 20 percent for 2004 as a whole.
The trend accelerated this year. For the first nine months of 2005 reservists accounted for 36 percent of U.S. deaths, and for August and September it was 56 percent, according to Pentagon figures.
Being dead or wounded and disabled gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "one weekend a month, two weeks a year", doesn't it? Amazing how these brave soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines manage to do their duty and not pull a Preznit Vanishing Varmint move isn't it?
There has even been a fatality from the Air National Guard. I wonder if that serviceperson would rather have been sorting mail in Alabama and getting their teeth cleaned, all things considered? Or maybe hanging out with an 'ambitious secretary' or three.
posted by Jo Fish on 10.12.05 at 08:20 PM
Comments:
I got out last year after 10 in the Air Force and another 10 in the Air National Guard (in an Army support postion). I saw the writing on the wall, and got while the gettin' was good (ie - no stop-loss on my backside). Checked with my old unit a few months back, and we had to cough up another body for the quicksand box. If I'd still been in, I'd have been the body for a third trip in that area (first was Desert Shield/Storm, second was the kickoff of OIF), since I was the most experienced in that area. Like the Mastercard, Retirement has its benefits.
posted by: Marcus on 10.12.05 at 11:16 PM [permalink]
