Active duty military are subject to all the vagaries of life, accidents, illness as well as murder and suicide. People die on active duty each and every year, whether we are fighting a war or not.

In 2006, the CRS reports that 1,858 men and women died while serving in the active duty military. 753 were killed in combat and 1,105 were not. 30 were murdered. 155 committed suicide. 205 died of an illness and 465 died in accidents. 250 deaths remain to be determined - differing calendar and Federal fiscal years affect the counts.

Death rates are normally presented per 100,000. For example, the overall death rate for the United States in 2004 was 816.5 deaths per 100,000 population.

Suicide rates in the military have been in the news a lot recently. The military and the Veterans Administration are spending a great deal of time and effort addressing the issues. The suicide rate among the active duty military is at the lowest since 1980 and has averaged 9.7 per 100,000 for the six years studied of the Bush Administration. As a contrast, the eight Clinton years averaged 11.6 suicides per 100k active military.