Official: Risk to Guardsmen Exaggerated

By ROBERT BURNS
AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The dangers faced by American troops in Iraq have been exaggerated, adding to the difficulty of recruiting soldiers at home, the Army general in charge of National Guard forces said Tuesday.

The casualty rate for Guardsmen is low compared with any previous armed conflict, said Lt. Gen. Steven Blum.

He said he recognizes that every death is a tragedy for that person's family. "But I lose, unfortunately, more people through private automobile accidents and motorcycle accidents over the same period of time," he added.

"It is dangerous, but it is - I shouldn't say it to this group but I'm going to - it is misrepresented, how dangerous it really is," Blum said during a breakfast with defense reporters.

Surveys of recruit-age Americans and their parents have shown that fear of being killed or wounded in Iraq is one of the major reasons that young people are choosing other careers after high school. The National Guard also has been squeezed by a slowdown in the number of active-duty soldiers switching to the Guard.



What an idiot! There is a difference between dying in a car crash and dying in Iraq. One is preventable! By not going to Iraq!

Semper Fi