This article is covering all of the information about US military deaths.
You’ll learn about:
And much more.
Let’s dig into the key statistics on US military deaths.
Here are the U.S. deaths by war.
4,586 US soldiers have died in Iraq.
This table shows how many people died in the Iraq war per year.
There have been 186% more deaths in Iraq than in Afghanistan.
This means the Iraq death toll is 1.86x higher than Afghanistan’s.
383 American soldiers died in the Persian Gulf War.
US military deaths in the Persian Gulf War by percentages.
The number of military serving per branch:
How many people died in the Persian Gulf War compared to how many served?
Summary of US military deaths in the Persian Gulf War:
58,220 American soldiers died in the Vietnam War.
US military deaths in the Vietnam War by percentages.
How many people died in the Vietnam War compared to how many served?
Summary of US military deaths in the Vietnam War:
Only 10% of Vietnam Veterans saw combat, or 1 out of every 10 Vietnam Veterans.
Most Vietnam Veterans were mechanics, scientists, engineers, and information technologists.
Read More: How Big Is The US Military?
36,574 American soldiers died in the Korean War.
US military deaths in the Korean War by percentages.
How many people died in the Korean War compared to how many served?
Summary of US military deaths in the Korean War:
The total US death toll during World War II was 405,399.
US military deaths in World War II by percentages.
How many people died in World War II compared to how many served?
Summary of US military deaths in World War II:
2,501 US troops died on D-Day.
This is according to John Long of the National D-Day Memorial Foundation.
The amount of troops that died on D-Day usually gets reported as around 10,000.
The estimation for 10,000 deaths takes into account:
John Long says that includes the number of deaths for ALL US troops, US Allies, and Germany.
The memorial site in Bedford, Virginia shows 4,414 names on the bronze plaques.
This number comes from Carol Tuckwiller.
2,501 were US casualties for troops who died on D-Day.
1,913 fatalities were Allies that died on D-Day.
The total US death toll during World War I was 116,516.
US military deaths in World War I by percentages.
How many people died in World War I compared to how many served?
Summary of US military deaths in World War I:
364,511 American soldiers died in the Civil War.
US military deaths in the Civil War by percentages.
Note that there are only records of how many Confederate Marine Corps were in the Civil War.
How many people died in the Civil War compared to how many served?
Summary of US military deaths in the Civil War:
The highest casualty way was World War II with 405,399 US military deaths.
The second highest casualty was was the Civil War with 364,511 US military deaths.
We’re going to talk about US deaths in Afghanistan by year for:
Operation Iraqi Freedom was named after Iraq.
Its goal in the War on Terror was to:
Operation Enduring Freedom was the Global War on Terrorism after the 9/11 attacks.
Its goal was to eradicate Osama Bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda terrorist group.
So, the US deaths in Afghanistan by year are:
There have been 2,465 US military deaths in Afghanistan so far.
This military service data comes from the gov’s U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).
The US military deaths account for the following operations:
13 soldiers died in Afghanistan in 2021 under the Biden administration.
14 soldiers died in Afghanistan in 2018 under the Trump administration.
But it’s not fair to look at it like this.
These presidents served different length of terms in office.
Read More: What Are The Chances Of Getting Drafted Into The Military?
So, let’s look at how many troops died in Afghanistan under each president per year.
Let’s look at some key points about this data.
Let’s look at the wars by death toll.
This data is looking at military deaths by the branch of service over the past 100 years.
We added up the total:
Then, we divided the number of service members by the number of deaths.
This gave us the average number of deaths by military branch for the last 100 years.
“The past 100 years” is looking at World War I and after (1917 – today).
The death rate of the Air Force is 0.14%.
The Air Force was not a military branch until the Korean War in 1950.
Some would say isn’t an accurate representation compared to the other US military branches.
But this data still takes and compares the:
It is an accurate representation of the Air Force death rate.
The death rate in the US Army is 3.46%.
The death rate in the US Marine Corps is 2.40%.
Only 10% of the marines see combat.
This means only 1 out of 10 marines see combat.
The death rate in the US Navy is 0.98%.
Yes, the Navy sees combat, but only ~10% of the Navy soldiers see combat.
The Marine combat engineer death rate is about 0.77%.
The only data we have is a rough estimate of the:
The average combat engineer’s life expectancy is 78.8 years.
This takes into account the fact that 99.3% of combat engineers survive service.
The average calvary scout’s life expectancy is 69.85 years.
This takes into account the fact that 96.54% of combat engineers survive service.
The death rate in the US Marine Infantry is 2.40%.
The least dangerous military branch is the Air Force.
This is the lowest death rate of any US military branch.
This data is pulled by looking at the deaths in each war in the US military.
And then corresponding those dates with the president at the time.
There are not any records of US military deaths per year that go earlier than 1980.
But, here are the US military deaths per president.
There were 893 US military deaths in 2019.
The Air Force is the safest military branch.
This data shows you how much more likely you are to die in the other military branches.
This data is from the wars between 1917 – the present day.
We looked at how many troops have served in each branch in each war.
And we compared that to the number of troops who have died in wars.
The Army is the most dangerous military branch.
The death rate in the Army is 98% of the other military branches combined.
This data shows you how much more likely you are to die in the Armed Forces.
We looked at how many military personnel have served in each military branch in each war.
And we compared that to the number of active duty military who have died in wars.
2,465 US military have died in Afghanistan.
60 soldiers have died in marine training in the past 5 years.
This means that, on average, 12 marines die in training per year.
Yes, you can die in the Navy.
0.98% of military personnel die in the Navy.
For every 1,000 Navy military personnel, 9.8 troops die.
The Army is the military branch that sees combat the most.
Roughly 10% of any military branch sees combat.
The US Army has 1,005,725 soldiers.
About 100,572 of them will see combat.
Roughly 66 Green Berets die per year.
On average:
We get this death rate by dividing the number of Special Force by their annual deaths.
On average, there are 660 deaths per year and 70,000 active Special Forces.
Yes, you can die in the Marines.
2.4% of Marines serving die, or 24 out of every 1,000 Marines die.
Yes, you can die in the Air Force.
0.14% of Air Force serving die, or 1.4 out of every 1,000 Air Force die.
You are least likely to die in the Air Force.
The most dangerous jobs in the Air Force are:
The safest jobs in the Air Force are:
The Army is the military branch with the highest death rate at 3.46%.
The highest death rate per branch is the Army’s 34.6 deaths per 1,000 soldiers.
From 2006 – 2020, 5,605 people died in basic training.
That means that 400 people are dying per year in basic training.
The chances of dying in the military are 2.61%.
This means that for every 1,000 soldiers, 26.1 people die in the military.
That’s across the board, so let’s look at your chances of death in each military branch.
If you are using this information for your own research, feel free to link back to this article as your source.
Thank you in advance.