More US soldiers die during training than during combat operations

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According to a congressional report updated last month, between 2006 and 2018, 31.9% of active duty military deaths resulted from accidents. In comparison, 16.3% of the military members who died during this period were killed in action.

And a large majority of these accidents occurred in circumstances other than combat deployments.

"Since 2006, 16,652 active duty personnel and mobilized reservists have died in the service of the US Armed Forces, and seventy-three per cent of these casualties occurred in non-war-related circumstances," the report said.

This trend only seems to have accelerated in recent times as the number of non-combatant deaths has exceeded the number of soldiers killed in combat each year since 2015.

In 2017, nearly four times more soldiers than soldiers killed in combat or in combat, according to a report of the Armed Forces Committee of the House on the law on the authorization of national defense for the military. Exercise 2019 – a key point emphasized by many lawmakers and military officials who have advocated for additional defense spending to help offset the preparedness problems that have worsened for years.
2 Marines killed in a helicopter crash in Arizona

"In all, 21 members of the military service died in combat that year and 80 as a result of training-related accidents that did not occur in combat," says the report. .

The army has again endured a high number of training-related fatalities in 2018 and a series of fatal accidents involving non-combat military planes have pushed the president of the Armed Forces Council into the future. 39th time, Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, to state that the state of readiness of the army was in focus. "

"This crisis is not confined to military aviation," wrote Thornberry in a 2018 report. "This past summer, the Navy lost 17 sailors in separate collisions between the USS McCain and the USS Fitzgerald.Marine investigators later discovered that both accidents were related to persistent problems of readiness of the navy. "

One of the most recent accidents occurred in March, when two Marine pilots died in a helicopter crash near Yuma, Arizona, during a drill. routine training.
West Point has a disproportionate importance in the history of the United States

Although the details of the cause of Thursday's fatal crash remain unclear, the incident is a further reminder of the broader security concerns associated with military training.

Lieutenant-General Darryl A. Williams, director of the American Military Academy at West Point, was not able to immediately provide details on the cause of the overturned vehicle accident, citing the ongoing investigation. He added that the name of the deceased cadet would not be released until the family was notified.

"Today's day was tragic for the West Point community and our US military," Williams said.

Jamie Crawford from CNN contributed to this report.

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