The Opinionated Bastard

Most deaths come from the soldiers being hit by an IED during combat operations. That is, driving to or from combat, or doing patrols in a combat area. This sort of shows that any whining that our soldiers are hiding inside the green zone is a lie (As I've seen from a commenter here and there). Most of the deaths are from combat operations.

Looking at the last few months then, the casualties get a little more perspective:

So I didn't know this until I read the press release, but the 14 soldiers killed on August 3rd were in combat. So this puts both July and the other months in perspective.

The lower number of deaths in Iraq in July happened because there weren't any major combat operations in July. With the beginning of August, Centcom has commenced a major operation, so combat deaths have risen accordingly. You can see it on this chart that shows deaths day by day with a weekly trend line. The trendline has bumps about a week after a major operation begins; you can see the lull at the beginning of June before the next operation begins. So the fact that fewer soldiers were killed in July has a lot to do with the fact that CentCom didn't do any major operations in July.

Other things I've learned:

The Marines are bearing the brunt of the combat operations and casualties. If you see a combat death, its most often a 2nd Expeditionary Force Marine. Semper Fi guys, thank you especially for serving.