Canadians in Afghanistan six times more likely to die than Americans in Iraq

[Asher]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Asher, this isn't the time for another hissy fit.

Just asking for a little respect, is all. I don't think a thread about the death of Canadian Soldiers in Afghanistan is the appropriate place for your insensitive "humour" about the Canadian military's "balls".

Kindly keep your Texan comments to yourself or other Texans, let the rest of the world mourn soldiers fighting for true freedom.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by CerberusIV
It's all well and good saying the death rate amongst Canadian soldiers is higher than for other nationalities in Afghanistan but the article doesn't even begin to address why. Is it the nature of the tasks assigned to Canadian troops? Shortcomings in equipment or training? Inadequate support from other NATO and US forces?

Without knowing why there is no way of knowing whether the problem is with the Canadian troops or with simply being in Afghanistan (as the "analysts" quoted imply). The whole article smacks of spin by those politically opposed to the current Canadian government rather than any meaningful analysis.

Agreed. I wondered the same thing

I also thought that

- someone has to be doing the hardest mission-- you don't sign on and say "we'll patrol the easy areas"
--2200 Canadian troops is such a small number that one successful attack can really sawy these numbers
--friendly fire has accounted for some of this

[Flubber]

darn computer froze up so I resubmitted

[Flubber]

sorry

[Kuciwalker]

Triple post.

[SlowwHand]

That's the question I posted. WHY is the ratio higher?
No, I don't think the Canadian's are doing anything more dangerous than anyone else, so again, WHY?
I still suggest it's training.

[Arrian]

Sample size and bad lucky. I'm sorry Canadians are dying in Afganistan. I'm particularly sorry about the ones killed by American "friendly fire." But the OP is pretty much meaningless, isn't it?

edit: Sloww - one could argue the training in question is the training of US reservists (who bombed a bunch of Canadians in Afganistan not too long back).

No, I think it's just sample size/luck.

-Arrian

[SlowwHand]

So you go with Asher's assessment of bad luck? You don't find that, I don't know, ridiculous?

[Asher]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
That's the question I posted. WHY is the ratio higher?
No, I don't think the Canadian's are doing anything more dangerous than anyone else, so again, WHY?
I still suggest it's training.

Based on what? Why the hell would you think that? That boggles the mind.

Considering how often Canada wins over the US in wargames, and considering in international sniping competitions, etc. Canada usually wins as well, I don't see how anything points to training.

Canada's numbers aren't that large, but it's largely an issue of quality over quantity. Unless you have any kind of basis for your training comments, when in the real world most signs point to Canadian soldiers being very well trained, I'd suggest you back off.

[Arrian]

Sloww,

Why is bad luck not a possibility? Why is that silly to suggest?

-Arrian

[Asher]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
So you go with Asher's assessment of bad luck? You don't find that, I don't know, ridiculous?

Considering how many Canadians have died as a direct result of inadequate training of US forces, I do find it insulting that an American is blaming Canada's training for these high deaths.

American f*ckups alone inflate Canada's casualty count. With such a small sample size, that's a huge impact on death rate.

[Arrian]

Hell, given the numbers, one could probably pull out the "friendly fire" deaths and recalculate pretty easily. How many Canadians have been killed in Afganistan by friendly fire?

-Arrian

[SlowwHand]

Bad luck unique to one particular country? Ok, let's call it bad luck. Why the bad luck? Karma? What else? A dark cloud hovers over Canadian military?

You don't think training is a more likely answer?

[Arrian]

There has to be a reason for bad luck now, Sloww?

I don't understand why you are finding this so hard to grasp. Do you understand the concept of small sample size flukes?

edit: training is a possibility, but I've never heard that the Canadian military is anything but well trained, and furthermore the only big ****up resulting in Canadian deaths I'm aware of was cause by our flyboys.

-Arrian

[Asher]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Bad luck unique to one particular country? Ok, let's call it bad luck. Why the bad luck? Karma? What else? A dark cloud hovers over Canadian military?

You don't think training is a more likely answer?

This is absolutely horrid logic.

You think bad luck isn't a reasonable answer, based on nothing, and therefore it's training...

I'm confused how training could prevent the deaths of the many Canadians killed by suicide bombers, the latest on a frickin' bicycle...

I'm confused how training could prevent the deaths of the 8(?) Canadians killed by American friendly fire (bombs, A-10 strafing, etc) since the conflict started.

Very few Canadians have died in true combat situations, and those that have were in very tough battles where many NATO soldiers died, eg Operation Medusa.