Posted on 09/27/2005 9:00:54 AM PDT by Albion Wilde
The majority of soldiers and Marines killed or wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were young, white, enlisted personnel from active-duty units, according to a study released Friday by the federal Government Accountability Office....[that] involved 1,841 service personnel who were killed and 12,658 who were wounded, as of May 28....Whites, who constitute 67% of the active-duty and reserve forces, accounted for 71% of the fatalities. African Americans are 17% of the overall force and were 9% of the fatalities. Hispanics are 9% of the force and were 10% of the fatalities....
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Especially since this is a volunteer force, it's worth noting that the numbers closely reflect the population as a whole. There is no significantly disproportionate enlistment or casualty rate.
The article continues to mention statistics for other wars, including Viet Nam, where 86 percent of fatalities were white.
THIS was in the LA Slimes???
Just damn.
Bummer. Those poor slobbering liberals that just need their LA Slimes anti-America fix in the morning, of all the liberal, whining slop about racism, and how the minorities are unfairly dying in the military....what a pathetic state of affairs.
The Left...the bane of America.
Charlie Rangel is deeply disappointed.
What's the Republican/Democrat ratio?
" blacks enlist and die disproportionately to whites "
This story PROVES that fact. Just not to their false premises (ie LIES).
It is a common misconception from the Vietnam conflict, originated, propagated and embraced by the Left. It fits their imaginary views of a classically Marxist race and class based victim mentality system. And that is how most of them view the military.
I maintain, and always have, that the military provides the most equal opportunity for people to excel. Granted, there is mediocrity everywhere, but if you have a drive to do well, you can achieve a lot in the military.
I have heard figures quoted that military votes tend to swing 81% Republican to 19% Other.
Given these numbers, I'm surprised the Democrats aren't calling for us to open as many fronts on the war as possible.
Damn! This is discrimination. Whites need more rights during wartime.
You're right. Get him on the phone!
The opening sentance itself is false:
"The majority of soldiers and Marines killed or wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan..."
Look over the list and you will find that many died in Kuwait, Germany, and other countries. You will also find that a large number (at one time 1/3 of all deaths) were accidental or from disease/health problems (including heart attack).
They died serving their country and died "deployed" on missions in Iraq in Afghanistan but they were not all "killed" (which is the word for murder/war/terrorism, deliberate acts).
The left likes dead numbers though.
The Lefties in the Los Angeles Hispanic "Community" continue to keep alive the misconception that Hispanics died in Vietnam way out of proportion to their representation in the population. The Left would like to start a similar urban legend for the Iraq War. As in Iraq, the facts of Vietnam prove otherwise. White enlistees, not draftees, did most of the fighting and dying in Vietnam. As they are doing in Iraq.
You'd think the way the Left hates us, they would shut up about the war, if we are just "killing our own."
DC Chapter and NC ping...
Republicans 100% - Democrats 0
Democrats don't defend their country, they just tear it down. Anyone noitce International Answer at the anti-war rally this past weekend. I heard Fox report that they don't believe in private property ownership. Isn't that kind of a commie principal? Seeing those irresponsible un-Americans at that protest, rallying to support the insurgency, and rallying to undermine the safety of our troops in harms way is an insult, an outrage and a disgrace to the sacrifices of past generations of Americans who gave their all to make America a responsible bastion of freedom and integrity.
LOL! Unofficial sources say 97% - R; 2% - Ind; 1% unregistered. (/sarcasm)
Well if enough of us die, then we won't be able to become first responders to disasters and disrepect Black victims of them.
" blacks enlist and die disproportionately to whites "
So interestingly, CHucky and his like can still spout this line and be telling the truth. It's just that most people interpret it to mean that way more blacks die than whites, when in fact it is the other way around!
It's always been that way....including during the Vietnam War
Regardless of socialist blather to the contrary....
According to my inside sources, whites in the military overwhelmingly vote R, most Hispanics vote R and most blacks vote D - but less so than outisde the military.
Good info. Thanks for the post.
The young man in the Walter Reed neighborhood and I discussed this at length. He said it was unfair for young blacks to enlist disproportionately in order to get the benefits and education and then die in greater numbers than whites.
I said I did not believe those statistics were true for the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. I made the point that if people enlist to serve in the military in order to get the benefits they could not justifiably expect to be excused from the risk of dying for their country.
He said that the recruiters may paint a false picture, which may take advantage of vulnerable black youths who grew up without fathers. I said that one of the best places for any young man who grew up without a family and community, and especially a father, was in the military, where the loyalty among troops is very high and the commanding officers take a great interest in "raising boys to be men." I said that the risk of dying heroically in combat in order to receive this "fathering", military training, and educational benefits was far more worthwhile than the risk of dying on the streets or in jail from random violence.
At that, he looked genuinely taken aback in a positive way. I hope my words had some effect on him, because unlike many of the lefties, he spoke in quiet, respectful tones and both of us really did listen and respond.
My grandson emailed me from Iraq this morning. Yesterday, he lost two of his best friends killed, one wounded, to an IED that hit their convoy just a little ahead of his vehicle. White guys, all. His unit has been there for just 5 weeks. May God bless them all.
Awesome job.
Your words to this man were right on target. I wish I could have been there.
tell your grandson and his friends that they have our utmost respect and love, and our prayers......and thank them for us, will ya?
I'm sorry for the loss to your grandson and the other friends and family members of those fallen warriors. My brother's bunkmate (KIA in Afghanistan) was white. His friends killed in the Pentagon on 9-11 were also white. Maybe I should use LeftieStats(tm) and assume that all the losses are white. :-/
Does Rangel want affirmative action in the military, perhaps incentive pay to get more whites in by paying them more?
Albion, early on in the WOT; stats were available which also showed the blacks comprise the largest "composite" of those occupying admin military positions with whites overwhelmingly representing the "most hazardous" duty positions.
And more specifically from this site:
Among the many myths of Vietnam that persist today, experts say, is that it was a war fought by poor and black Americans, who died in greater proportions than whites.
Although that was true in the early stages of the American ground war, in 1965 and 1966, when there were large numbers of blacks in frontline combat units, Army and Marine Corps commanders later took steps to reassign black servicemen to other jobs to equalize deaths, according to Col. Harry G. Summers Jr. in "Vietnam War Almanac."
By the end of the war, African-Americans had suffered 12.5 percent of the total deaths in Vietnam, 1 percentage point less than their proportion in the overall population, Colonel Summers wrote.
And here's a site with data I more reliably trust: William Buckley: April 8, 2003, Who’s Fighting the War? Charles Rangel is wrong on blacks in the military.
The percentage of black Americans in the military is 20, compared to 13 percent of the U.S. population. As it happens, most black service members, we are informed in Stars and Stripes, hold administrative and medical jobs. Why should that be? One major reason is that those skills learned in the fighting units of the military are of no use when leaving. Accordingly, many blacks seek out army training, for instance in medical units, that gives a substantial advantage when going on to civilian trades.
There is another factor, which is that blacks tend to reenlist at a higher rate than others. The reason is that "blacks believe they have a better chance of color-blind success inside the military than in the civilian world," as Lisa Burges of Stars and Stripes summarizes. This translates to more blacks, as a percentage of the population, than whites make the military their chosen profession. If Mr. Rangel is saying merely that military careers are marginally more attractive to blacks than to whites, he won't be questioned, but the political-ethnic point disappears.
The study of Stars and Stripes relies on a report released by the Department of Defense in January.
Ping to data in Post 32.
Come on down to Walter Reed one of these Friday nights! We have a great time greeting the troops as they enter and leave the gates!
Amen. He has our gratitude and condolences.
Great statistics and commentary in post # 32, Alia. Thanks so much!
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