US Military Sees Growing Injuries, Deaths, in Non-Combat Situations

Marine Training Accidents Up 60% From 2014

14 Marines and a Navy sailor were wounded, several critically so, when their training exercise went horribly wrong. The amphibious assault vehicle they were training on burst into flames, badly burn many of them.

Such stories are increasingly common across the US military, where a growing number of troops are being killed or injured in non-combat situations, many of them in simple training exercises. Among the Marines, data shows that training accidents are up 60% from just three years ago, in 2014.

There is no official reason for why this is all happening. The best guess, however, is that with growing US deployments around the world, training schedules have been sped up dramatically, and that is taking its toll on the amount of time the equipment being trained on is getting maintenance.

It’s not just training, either. general non-combat operation accidents are also on the rise, as exemplified by the number of US warships that have inexplicably careened into other ships, or simply smacked into the shore. Random explosions and vehicle accidents are rising at an alarming pace.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.