July is deadliest month of Afghanistan War for U.S.
US casualty rate in Afghanistan, by month
American forces have experienced their deadliest month in the nine-year-old Afghan war, with 66 US service members killed in July.
The previous most deadly month for the US was the previous month, June, when 60 died.
June also remains the deadliest month for international forces since 2001′s US-led invasion of Afghanistan, with 102 service members killed, according to the independent iCasualties website.
[BBC]
Add to this the fact that the U.S. Army, along with the National Guard and Army Reserves, averaged a suicide a day in June, making what already was a bad year even worse.
This represents a rate of suicide not seen since the Vietnam War.
Although the strain of multiple deployments is often cited as a major cause in the rise in military suicides, this is only occasionally a factor in National Guard and Reserves cases.
moraloutrage - July 30, 2010 at 8:24 pm |