What especially sticks out to my laymen self is the trend where active duty numbers decrease over time, but self-inflicted casualties continue to increase.
Additionally, the 2nd last page - from 2010 ~ 2019 the total deaths trend down from 1,485 to 893. Impressive! However, self-infliction continues to rise. :(
It is my (possibly flawed) understanding that because of improvement in personal armor, armored vehicles, etc. deaths in combat have in general dropped, but the psychological repercussions have not. So you still have plenty of people with severe PTSD that end up being part of that terrible ‘self-inflicted’ statistic.
I doubt most are negatively impacted overall. Though those who are, are often extremely negatively impacted (PTSD, serious permanent injury, death).
I see a lot of service members in my job… trust me a large percentage are negatively impacted…
I’d think death would extremely negatively impact a person.
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What especially sticks out to my laymen self is the trend where active duty numbers decrease over time, but self-inflicted casualties continue to increase.
Additionally, the 2nd last page - from 2010 ~ 2019 the total deaths trend down from 1,485 to 893. Impressive! However, self-infliction continues to rise. :(
Thank you for sharing!
It is my (possibly flawed) understanding that because of improvement in personal armor, armored vehicles, etc. deaths in combat have in general dropped, but the psychological repercussions have not. So you still have plenty of people with severe PTSD that end up being part of that terrible ‘self-inflicted’ statistic.