Military Desertion Rates Down

That is as accurate a headline for this USA Today story as the one they chose. 8,000 desert during Iraq war Let's look at some quick but very interesting facts.

Journalistic style uses an inverted pyramid - what is important goes at the top, less important information in the middle with the least important information at the bottom. It was designed to give a newspaper the ability to cut a story from the bottom up for space concerns while always assuring the most important items remained as the article grew shorter.

You have to read down in the USA Today piece for this below and that isn't even the whole story.

Desertion numbers have dropped since 9/11. The Army, Navy and Air Force reported 7,978 desertions in 2001, compared with 3,456 in 2005. The Marine Corps showed 1,603 Marines in desertion status in 2001. That had declined by 148 in 2005.

The desertion rate was much higher during the Vietnam era. The Army saw a high of 33,094 deserters in 1971 - 3.4% of the Army force. But there was a draft and the active-duty force was 2.7 million.

The lede, or opening of the story:

At least 8,000 members of the all-volunteer U.S. military have deserted since the Iraq war began, Pentagon records show, although the overall desertion rate has plunged since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

I would argue that the impression they attempt to make with this lede is - wow - all volunteer? deserting? Just imagine what it would be if it weren't for 9/11. You know, all those useful idiots are throwing themselves up to be cannon fodder out of some misplaced patriotism, wouldn't you say? And of course they invoke Vietnam as per above. Now here is the truth of the matter quoted at bottom.

Guess what? Desertion rates in Vietnam were lower than any previous war before 1968. The desertion rate for the all volunteer military right now, lower than in Vietnam, may well be the lowest we have ever seen in any war.

And the reality is, the soldiers in Vietnam didn't desert - not first, anyway. Read the bit below and notice the timing. The fact is some American politicians, the American media and a bunch of malcontent college kids deserted our soldiers in Vietnam well before 1970.

The US military has never truly deserted the American people, except in a case where the people deserted them first. And it must not happen again.

Up until 1968 the desertion rate for U.S. troops in Vietnam was still lower than in previous wars. But by 1969 the desertion rate had increased fourfold.

The period from 1968 to 1970 was a period of rapid disintegration of morale and widespread rebelliousness within the U.S. military. There were a variety of causes contributing to this development. By this time the war had become vastly unpopular in the general society, anti-war demonstrations were large and to some degree respectable, and prominent politicians were speaking out against the continuation of the war.

Comments

[sigmund, carl and alfred]

Excellent, excellent post.

It's posts like these that are why I read blogs.

[PoorPaulaNNJ]

Hmmm, wasn't it 8,000 Iraqi Soldiers that deserted during the start of the Iraqi War....oh, wait that wasn't since the beginning, it was the first five minutes. USA Today needs to hire a new proofreader/fact-checker!!!!!!!!

[Sgt. York]

Are they still making a AWOL vs. Desertion (past 30-days) distinction? I've seen guys get charged with AWOL/Desertion and it was never a political statement; usually it means he hooked up with friends and met a girl while on liberty (the partying, fun, and sex was too good to leave). Also, if the MIL has dropped the 30-day grace period then everybody who is late returning from leave or liberty is a 'deserter' and certainly anyone who is late for deployment would be charged under 'desertion' rather than given NJP for AWOL.

REFERENCE: A federal warrant, which remains valid for forty years, is issued the moment a soldier crosses the line between absent without leave and desertion. A soldier who does not show up for duty is classified as AWOL for 30 days. After that, he or she becomes an official deserter. During a time of war, the 30-day grace period disappears.

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[Righty-Tighty]

Thanks Dan for this article. I agree with "Sig., Carl, etc".