Inside the War in Afghanistan

Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin rank among the Bottom 10 states in per capita fatalities; non-hostile deaths account for more than 25 percent of U.S. death toll

President Barack Obama’s announcement at West Point Tuesday evening that another 30,000 troops will be deployed in the war against the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan comes at what many military (and political) analysts believe is a critical tipping point in the war.

Although U.S. fatalities in November (17) were the lowest amount since May of this year, October had been the bloodiest month to date of the 8+ year-old war, with 60 U.S. troops perishing in what has become one of the longest military conflicts in U.S. history.

Overall, 929 U.S. forces have died in the war, with the highest per capita death toll endured by military personnel hailing from the South (3.21 per 1 million residents), followed by the West (3.01), Midwest (2.82), and Northeast (2.73) according to a Smart Politics analysis of data provided by iCasualties.

Minnesota – and its neighboring states of Iowa and Wisconsin – all rank among the bottom 10 states in terms of per capita fatalities in the war. Minnesota is ranked #43 (2.11 per 1 million residents) with Wisconsin at #42 (2.13) and Iowa at #44 (2.00).

Overall, 11 Minnesotans have died in the Afghan conflict, with 12 from Wisconsin and 6 from Iowa. Military personnel from Rhode Island have the lowest per capita death rate (0.95 per million).

U.S. Military Fatalities in Afghanistan by State, 2001-2009

Rank	State	Deaths	Per Capita
1	Maine	12	9.12
2	North Dakota	4	6.24
3	West Virginia	11	6.06
4	Wyoming	3	5.63
5	Nevada	14	5.38
6	New Hampshire	7	5.32
7	Montana	5	5.17
8	Oklahoma	18	4.94
9	Kansas	13	4.64
10	Washington	29	4.43
11	Alaska	3	4.37
12	Missouri	25	4.23
13	Louisiana	18	4.08
14	Massachusetts	26	4.00
15	Oregon	15	3.96
16	South Carolina	17	3.79
17	Maryland	21	3.73
18	New Mexico	7	3.53
19	North Carolina	32	3.47
20	Nebraska	6	3.36
21	Virginia	26	3.35
22	Illinois	43	3.33
23	Utah	9	3.29
24	Florida	59	3.22
24	Alabama	15	3.22
26	Georgia	30	3.10
27	Arizona	20	3.08
28	Kentucky	13	3.05
29	Indiana	19	2.98
30	Pennsylvania	36	2.89
31	Mississippi	8	2.72
32	Texas	65	2.67
33	Tennessee	16	2.57
34	New York	49	2.51
35	South Dakota	2	2.49
36	California	91	2.48
37	Arkansas	7	2.45
38	Hawaii	3	2.33
39	Colorado	11	2.23
40	Michigan	22	2.20
41	Ohio	25	2.18
42	Wisconsin	12	2.13
43	Minnesota	11	2.11
44	Iowa	6	2.00
45	Idaho	3	1.97
46	Vermont	1	1.61
47	New Jersey	13	1.50
48	Connecticut	5	1.43
49	Delaware	1	1.15
50	Rhode Island	1	0.95
	Other	21
	Total	929

Source: iCasualties.org data compiled by Smart Politics with 2008 U.S. Census Bureau population estimates.

As is normally the case in war, the deaths of U.S. Military personnel have not been evenly distributed across the Armed Services.

The U.S. Army has suffered more than four times the number of fatalities than any other branch of the U.S. military.

At 560 deaths, the Army has endured 60.3 percent of all American military fatalities in the war. The U.S. Marine Corps has seen 126 of its personnel die in the war (13.6 percent), the U.S. Navy has lost 51 personnel (5.5 percent) and 42 members of the U.S. Air Force have perished (4.5 percent).

The use of the National Guard (for multiple tours) has been one of the more controversial aspects of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Overall, 106 members of the U.S. Army (97) and U.S. Air (9) National Guards have died in the Afghan war.

An additional 39 Reservists in the U.S. Army, U.S. Marines, and U.S.Navy have also died.

Deaths in War in Afghanistan by Military Branch, 2001-2009

Branch	Deaths	Percent
U.S. Army	560	60.3
U.S. Marines	126	13.6
U.S. Army National Guard	97	10.4
U.S. Navy	51	5.5
U.S. Air Force	42	4.5
U.S. Army Reserve	31	3.3
U.S. Air National Guard	9	1.0
U.S. Marine Reserve	6	0.6
CIA	4	0.4
U.S. Navy Reserve	2	0.2
N/A	1	0.1
Total	929	100.0

Source: iCasualties.org data compiled by Smart Politics.

While fighting has been fierce during the last year of the war (U.S. fatalities will likely be twice as high in 2009 by year’s end than in any other year of the war to date), a large number of deaths have occurred in non-hostile situations.

More than one-quarter of the 929 U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan (262, or 28.2 percent) have been due to non-hostile causes.

The majority of non-hostile related deaths have come from crashes of helicopters (81, 30.9 percent), ground vehicles (36, 13.7 percent) and aircraft (21, 8.0 percent) in non-combat situations.

Two members of the U.S. military have committed suicide while in Afghanistan.

Cause of U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan (Non-Hostile), 2001-2009

Cause	Number	Percent
Helicopter crash	81	30.9
Vehicle crash	36	13.7
Aircraft crash	21	8.0
Non-combat wounds	10	3.8
Illness	9	3.4
Ordnance explosion	8	3.1
Drowning	5	1.9
Weapon discharge	4	1.5
Traffic accident	2	0.8
Suicide	2	0.8
Self-inflicted gunshot	2	0.8
Natural causes	2	0.8
Land mine	1	0.4
Unspecified / other	79	30.4
Total	262	100.0

Source: iCasualties.org data compiled by Smart Politics.

The remaining 667 U.S. fatalities (71.8 percent) have been in hostile combat situations, with nearly half of these being caused by improvised explosive devices (310, 46.5 percent).

A very low percentage of deaths have been caused by suicide bombers (15, 2.2 percent) with deaths by hostile fire (132, 19.8 percent) and small arms fire (117, 17.5 percent) much more prevalent.

Cause of U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan (Hostile), 2001-2009

Cause	Number	Percent
Improvised Explosive Device (IED)	310	46.5
Hostile fire (general)	132	19.8
Small arms fire	117	17.5
Helicopter / plane crash	34	5.1
Rocket-propelled grenade (RPG)	18	2.7
Suicide bomber	15	2.2
Land mine	11	1.6
Rocket fire	6	0.9
Friendly fire (hostile situation)	5	0.7
Indirect fire	5	0.7
Bomb	4	0.6
Mortar attack	3	0.4
Grenade attack	1	0.1
Other	6	0.9
Total	667	100.0

Source: iCasualties.org data compiled by Smart Politics.

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