Neither I or the post I responded to said anything about ‘merchant marine’ that I can see. That is confusing the point. My numbers were for Marines, Navy and Army Air Corps (Air Force).
My point is if casualties in WWII make someone a soldier, the Merchies (with great affection) took the highest rate of casualties of any service in WWII.
Since Merchies are civilians, they are not soldiers, that provides a counter example that refutes your assertion that casualties make soldiers.