Ive been hearing this arguement about Iraq for ages. The claim that … oh well 3000 KIA troops is not that bad if you look at our past wars. No one (untill lately) seems to mention the 70000 Americans service member that were injured, mentally ill…etc. I be say bullshit forever but seem like most are just discovering this fact.
No one ever talks about the Iraqi casualities either…
Probably 4x as much =(
No one (untill lately) seems to mention the 70000 Americans service member that were injured, mentally ill…etc.
I have to agree, recently I saw in the CNN a report about irak war veterans hospitals…most of that “veterans” did not surpasse the 22 years old, many of them were in wheelchair for the rest of his lives, really depressing view.
I think this is a result of better protection and medical aid. A lot of fatalities in Vietnam were from head wounds. Now with better protection this has gone down. It is also the first aid and intervention that has improved the survivability of injured soldiers. In the Falklands not one soldier died who they got to the aid station. So at one time you would expect 3 wounded for every KIA more injured are surviving and the injuries that would have killed in past wars are now survivable.
Well i don’t think its correct to compare the Vietnam and Iraq - the very different scale. If in Vietnam thhe were a lot of sides which were involved in conflict ( although not officially).China’s voluntaries , soviet wearponry was in mass scale. Besides of the Vietnam was the real front not just partisan actions like in Iraq.
But sure the contemporary war medic service is better than in last conflicts.
Cheers.
I am not comparing Vietnam with Iraq, I am comparing the level of protection given to troops. The helmet issued to troops had not developed since it had been introduced. The body armour was designed to stop shell fragments not bullets (that is why they called it a flag jacket). Now body armour will stop assault rifle bullets and if the bullets hit the plate it will stop large calibre rounds. The helmet is also vastly improved from the WW2 one as has been shown by a number of soldiers who have survived a bullet to the head. One of the requirements of the NATO assault rifle ammo tests was that a bullet would be able to defeat a US helmet at 200m.