Air Force Community - Air Force Times

Editorial: The price of war

In early July, perhaps before, perhaps soon after you read this, the U.S. military will reach a somber wartime milestone: 4,000 troops killed in operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

Breaking down the data into statistical charts and graphs carries an inherent risk of obscuring the deep courage and selflessness that each of them exhibited in their willingness to go into harm’s way for a cause bigger than themselves. Yet doing so also sheds light on who these brave men and women were, where they came from and how they died.

The first thing that catches the eye is their ages. President Hoover once said, “Older men declare war, but it is the youth who must fight and die.” So it is today; almost 53 percent were 24 years old or younger.

The racial demographics also tell a story. Early in the war, some tried to argue that the combat burden disproportionately fell on minorities. This is not so. The U.S. military is about 70 percent white, but whites make up just over 75 percent of the war dead. Hispanics make up 10.2 percent of the force, and 10.5 percent of the casualties. Blacks make up 17 percent of the force and 9 percent of the casualties.

The data also reveal that the intensity of combat is increasing. A year ago, the rate of losses was about 74 per month; today, it is nearly 100.

Driving the increase are more deadly improvised explosive devices, which accounted for 32 percent of deaths in the first year of the war and nearly 80 percent in the past three months.

Some think such statistics, doled out in arbitrary increments linked to convenient round numbers, are meaningless.

But stepping back now and then to soak in the bigger picture serves an important purpose in reminding us all of the enormity of war — and of war’s ultimate cost.