"Perspective" on Troop Deaths?

[Kiah]

OK, time to get preachy . . . .

In "Lost perspective" (Tulsa World Letters to the Editor, 9/13/06), Coeweene Nickles asks us to put our military losses in perspective, by pointing out that there were 43,443 traffic fatalities in the United States in 2005.  I have heard this argument many times in the last few years, and I'm always struck by the attempt to minimize, almost trivialize, the dangers American military personnel confront in Iraq.

Perhaps we should put Ms. Nickles' assertions in perspective.  As of September 3rd, 2,974 service men and women have died in Iraq.  Though troop levels have fluctuated, there are currently about 140,000 U.S. military personnel serving there.  So, those 2,974 deaths represent 1 in 47 American troops currently in Iraq.

By contrast, if we consider that most of the 288 million Americans (and many foreign visitors) travel on public roads, fewer than 1 in 6,600 travelers died on American roads in 2005.

As we mourn the loss of a Tulsa police officer killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, it doesn't behoove any of us – regardless of our position on the war – to try to diminish his sacrifice by equating the dangers Corporal Shoemaker faced patrolling the Al Anbar province with the risk faced by commuters on the Broken Arrow Expressway.