Non-combat related deaths? Why so many?

Each day I listen to my local news station and hear the horrible reports of the prior days deaths in Iraq. I cannot figure out this phrase I hear all the time. To the effect "there were 8 deaths today in Iraq, 5 were non-combat related". I find that difficult to believe. If soldiers are in Iraq, it IS combat related. If this is "gov-speak" to make things sound rosier, it stinks. And speaking of "gov-speak", I'm sick of it all. Never in my 64 years would I believe things in government could evolve into the state we are in now. I find it difficult to believe anything said by this government now. In fact, I do not believe. Not a word, not by anyone. It is awful to feel this way but I've used up any faith I may have had. Now, If the Democrats want my vote in the fall, they better try and convince me that they are going to DO something or what is the use of voting at all. We're sunk unless the party fights harder and speaks out. Just a change in party majority in the House and Senate is not enough. We need the movers and shakers to start to clean up this **** mess...and quickly.

because Halliburton couldn't get enough water to you or the water was contaminated (this has actually happened), getting sick and dying (from bad water or food), or having some kind of accident. Like getting run over by a truck.

They are doing this so that the death rate looks lower than it is.

aircraft crash, guns blow up,
ships disappear,


do you think putting 600 pounds of gunpowder
in a naval gun that was fired four minutes ago,
is safe?

but deaths are going down

There's, what, 120,000 troops there? Imagine a town of 120,000 people and consider how many deaths it would have. You'd expect somewhat less than that (since troops are young and healthy compared to the US population), but you'll still have quite a few deaths in a given week.

First off, there are the usual risks:
Vehicle accidents (still a leading killer)
Disease (traditionally the biggest killer of armies)
Suicide
Exposure (it is very hot and dry there)

In addition, there are non-combat occupational risks:
Warehouse work
Exposure to various chemicals and agents in some jobs
Operating heavy machinery

Just like people with those jobs in the civilian world, military personnel face occupational risks of industrial accidents.

As a final note, our past few wars have been very unusual historically: in the past, non-combat deaths outpaced combat deaths by a significant margin.

don't "combat deaths" award a bigger life insurance payout for the family/widow?

to the MASH or wherever as non-combat deaths. Like with the unemployment numbers and most other things, the Rove admin has changed the stats to put lipstick on that pig