XDA

There was more deadly combat in Iraq this month than in a while. In Afghanistan, the IED has become the queen of the battlefield, such as it is.


According to Department of Defense releases for the month of December, the roles of non combat and combat were reversed from last month: 15 American servicemen died in Iraq, 11 in combat and 4 from non combat causes. We are mopping up the bitter ender remnants of al Qaeda in Iraq. Things in Afghanistan seem to be going the way of the middle period of Iraq, when by far the most of our heroes were killed by IEDs.


Here is a further breakdown. In Iraq, 15 American servicemen died. Six were killed by IEDs (twice as many as last month), four died from small arms fire, and one was killed by a gun shot wound with no further information given. None died in accidents, none died in combat operations; but four died from non combat causes including to only American woman to die, Cwislin Walter, 19, from Honolulu, who died in Kuwait. In Afghanistan, nine died from IEDs (which is another increase from last month and a telling statistic), two from combat operations, one from indirect fire, and one from small arms (an RPG). All were deaths in combat. That's telling too. The total in Afghanistan is 13, and the total last month for the wars being waged against us is 28, exactly one per day.

Several officers were killed: Capt. Brian Bunting, 29 of Potomac, MD, who died of an IED blast in Afghanistan; 1st Lt. William Emmert, 36, of Lincoln, TN, who died in small arm fire in Iraq; Lt. Col. Garnet Derby, 44, of Missoula, MT, killed by an IED in Iraq alongside 1st Lt. Jared Southworth, 26, of Oakland, IL.

Our thoughts and prayers go to the families and loved ones of these fallen warriors, and all our hopes for their continued success goes to our men and women, mainly men, fighting overseas.

Labels: American War Dead in Iraq and Afghanistan