Medical care Quote by Steven D. Levitt
““From 2002 to 2008, the United States was fighting bloody wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; among active military personnel, there were an average 1,643 fatalities per year. But over the same stretch of time in the early 1980s, with the United States fighting no major wars, there were more than 2,100 military deaths per year. How can this possibly be? For one, the military used to be much larger: 2.1 million on active duty in 1988 versus 1.4 million in 2008. But even the rate of death in 2008 was lower than in certain peacetime years. Some of this improvement is likely due to better medical care. But a surprising fact is that the accidental death rate for soldiers in the early 1980s was higher than the death rate by hostile fire for every year the United States has been fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. It seems that practicing to fight a war can be just about as dangerous as really fighting one. And,””
About This Quote
Source Speech: Interview on military statistics, 2020
The quote highlights that accidental deaths in peacetime can exceed combat deaths, showing that training and non‑combat hazards are surprisingly lethal.
In simple terms: Peacetime accidents can be deadlier than combat.
Key Takeaway
Recognize and mitigate training risks.
Themes
military safety
statistics
risk assessment
Mood
analytical
concerned
Type
informative
analytical
When to use this quote
- military training
- health and safety programs
- policy review
- risk management
Key Concepts
epidemiology
human factors
training safety
Questions to Reflect On
- How can training protocols be improved?
- What non‑combat risks need more attention?
A Different Perspective
Peacetime data may be incomplete or biased.
![“[...]if you are hoping to damage opponents' mental health, go ahead and tell them how inferior or dim-witted or nasty they are. But even if you are certifiably right on every point, you should not think for a minute that you will ever be able to persuade them. Name-calling will make you an enemy…” quote by Steven D. Levitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/4e9/steven-d-levitt-5284_first-place_if-you-are-hoping-to-damage-opponents-me_193482.jpg)
![“We got a commitment that 3 million nurses are going to be trained to better identify these signs [of PTSD], because, you know, when these troops come home and they become veterans and they go back into the civilian community, they're not always going through the VA system for medical care. They're…” quote by Michelle Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b2c/michelle-obama-518_care_we-got-a-commitment-that-3-million-nurse_135943.jpg)
