Comments on: Marines Take More Casualties

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:48:15 +0000

As a former Marine and currently deployed Army National Guardsman, the disparity in casuality rates is likely partially due force structures. Marines are leaner due to being at the tip of the spear; most logistical support comes from the other services due to the mission focus of the Corps. Army forces include both fighting units and support units, as well as a larger percentage of headquarters, advisory and mentoring units and more duplicate headquarters; thereby driving the casuality percentage down due to the ratio of forces in contact to fobbits. Also driving casuality disparities is the location and type of fighing based on where the Marines are fighting versus where Army units are fighting. When it comes down to infantry squads, the mettle of the men are comparable.

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:11:09 +0000

Indeed, all the soldiers are in the Army. More seriously, I'm not sure how different the combat troops are between the two services, which are now both full of volunteers.

By: TFG

TFG — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:12:22 +0000

The Marines obviously attract a different personality type than the Army. There’s a large about of selection bias since prospective soldiers are not randomly distributed between the two services.