U.S. Soldiers In Iraq - Army Doing Most Of The Dying

The milestone has only just recently been reached. The U.S. suffered its 4000th casualty in Iraq after about 5 years of fighting there. It is also estimated now that the number of wounded is nearing the 100,000 mark as well. These figures do not even include the number of suicides that have taken place with soldiers who have returned from combat with all kinds of emotional problems which led them to such behaviors. How exactly do the figures break down by branches of the service? Here is a quick look. The four branches of the military are of course the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. The Army by far has done the bulk of the dying so far in Iraq as you would expect. They account for over 70% of America's war dead. The Marines are next with about 25% of the casualties which adds up to 1 out of every 4. The Navy has suffered much fewer losses accounting for about 2% of the total. The Air Force the least with about 1%. The good news is that casualties in general have gone way down in Iraq overall in the last year. In May of 2007 The U.S. suffered 130 dead in that month which was almost a record high for one month. In December of 2007 it was less than 30. The trend for this year so far has been about 30 a month. We all of course keep our fingers crossed for this positive trend to continue.