Nov 10, 1775 it all started… in a bar named Tun Tavern.
Once a Marine, always a Marine.
- Corporal U.S. Marine Corp
- United States Marine Corps
“Some men go their entire lives wondering if they’ve made a difference in the world. Marines don’t have that problem”. Ronald Reagan
Many times during Veterans Day we hear about how we should honor the Veterans who lost their lives. We should, many men and women gave their lives to protect our country and our allies. What needs to be keep front of mind is the people who are not dead. There are people giving their lives on a daily basis. The troops or active military need our support. It is easy to honor the dead as they need nothing from us. The living, serving men and women have needs now. This Veterans day honor those who gave their lives by being active in your support of those who serve now. Do something nice for the Veteran’s you know or families of those deployed. Do not be a fickle supporter like the news media. In the past 10 months the number of deaths have not been reported or covered in the same way they were previously. This information should be reported no matter who is in office. Did you know more have died in Afghanistan this year than in the whole Iraq conflict?
Take a look at the Afghan vs. Iraq death tolls. You will see the death toll went down after the surge in Iraq and in the past 11 months Afghan deaths have risen sharply. Why has this not been reported?
Iraq
Coalition Military Fatalities By Year
|
Year |
US |
UK |
Other |
Total |
| 2003 | 486 | 53 | 41 | 580 |
| 2004 | 849 | 22 | 35 | 906 |
| 2005 | 846 | 23 | 28 | 897 |
| 2006 | 822 | 29 | 21 | 872 |
| 2007 | 904 | 47 | 10 | 961 |
| 2008 | 314 | 4 | 4 | 322 |
| 2009 | 141 | 1 | 0 | 142 |
| Total |
4362 |
179 |
139 |
4680 |
Afghanistan
Coalition Military Fatalities By Year
|
Year |
US |
UK |
Other |
Total |
| 2001 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 2002 | 49 | 3 | 17 | 69 |
| 2003 | 48 | 0 | 9 | 57 |
| 2004 | 52 | 1 | 7 | 60 |
| 2005 | 99 | 1 | 31 | 131 |
| 2006 | 98 | 39 | 54 | 191 |
| 2007 | 117 | 42 | 73 | 232 |
| 2008 | 155 | 51 | 89 | 295 |
| 2009 | 287 | 95 | 85 | 467 |
| Total |
917 |
232 |
365 |
1514 |
As you can see we have had over twice the number of deaths in the Afghan conflict than we did in Iraq. Where is the outrage? Where are the re enforcements they need and asked for? At this point if we are not going to support the troops by giving then what they need then send them home. If we take a lesson from history, Afghanistan is not a battle that has yet been won by anyone.