Sunday, January 14, 2007
Casualty Count...
War is Hell. This is an old tried and true statement. I personally don't take lightly the amount of sacrifices made by my fellow Americans. However, I see all these casualty reports, insisting that the amount of casualties we have suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan are unbearable for the American people. I won't go into historic lists of casualties from other wars and conflicts (except for the last line), but the amount we have suffered within a timespan that has surpassed that of WWII is not so great, as long as the American people as a unit feel that the ultimate sacrifice was given for a just cause.
Many of our servicemen and women in the active and reserve military, as well as a great deal of us veterans still support action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This site lists casualty figures for Iraq and Afghanistan. They are, as of this posting:
Iraq: 3,019 fatalities; 47,657 wounded
Afghanistan: 357 fatalities; 5,994 wounded
Totals: 3,376 fatalities; 53,651 wounded
The current edition of the Marine Corps Times has a sidebar which gives a figure of 1,250,666 men and women who have ever deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Those that disagree with our being there and the need to get the job done should look to Iwo Jima. A horrifying 6,821 Marines were killed there in the first five weeks. Although historians disagree on the tactical significance of the tiny volcanic island in the wider campaign, there is nearly universal agreement that once the first Marine splashed ashore, it would have been a devastating strategic defeat to have been driven back into the sea.
Many of our servicemen and women in the active and reserve military, as well as a great deal of us veterans still support action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This site lists casualty figures for Iraq and Afghanistan. They are, as of this posting:
Iraq: 3,019 fatalities; 47,657 wounded
Afghanistan: 357 fatalities; 5,994 wounded
Totals: 3,376 fatalities; 53,651 wounded
The current edition of the Marine Corps Times has a sidebar which gives a figure of 1,250,666 men and women who have ever deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Those that disagree with our being there and the need to get the job done should look to Iwo Jima. A horrifying 6,821 Marines were killed there in the first five weeks. Although historians disagree on the tactical significance of the tiny volcanic island in the wider campaign, there is nearly universal agreement that once the first Marine splashed ashore, it would have been a devastating strategic defeat to have been driven back into the sea.
# posted by Hena Gaijin @ 7:59 PM 
