ishkabob

I really want to enlist in the national guard. But at the same time I don't want to fight in Iraq and get killed. Even if I don't fight...is there a possibility I will die? Please Help!

ishkabob

bum 10 char

krazykool

your chance of dying in the guard is not much higher than your chance of dying at home. your chance of getting injured is pretty high if you do enter combat, but dying in combat is rare.

GoldShadow

CC is probably not the right place to ask this question.

tomatoking

don't worry.there are re-spawn points.

ishkabob

whats a re-spawn point?

snoopyiscool

If you go to Iraq there is always a possibility to get killed. If you don't want a chance of going to Iraq that isn't going to happen.

Northstarmom

And -- how do you feel about being expected to kill other people? If you're OK with killing enemy soldiors, how'd you feel about accidentally killing civilians including children?

krazykool

but there's a large possibility of being killed anywhere. disease? car accidents? violent crime? and of course there is the certainty that we will all die at some point.

ishkabob

well, i don't want to kill anyone....I don't want to be on the front line

runforfun529

You don't have to go into the infantry in order to join the national guard.

www.1-800-GO-GUARD.com | MOS LIST

Northstarmom

"but there's a large possibility of being killed anywhere. disease? car accidents? violent crime?"

Actually, there's not a large possibility of being killed anywhere when you are a relatively young U.S. citizen. Most people in the U.S. live until their 70s.

Certainly, going into combat places one at a higher than normal risk of being killed or maimed (and the injuries that people are surviving in this war are horrendous.).

Northstarmom

A quick Google yielded this USA Today article from 2004. You could check to find more current info.

"WASHINGTON — In a reversal of trends from past wars, part-time soldiers in the Army National Guard are about one-third more likely to be killed in Iraq than full-time active-duty soldiers serving there, a USA TODAY analysis of Pentagon statistics shows.
According to figures furnished by the military branches, the active Army has sent about 250,000 soldiers to Iraq, and 622 have been killed. That works out to one death for every 402 soldiers who have deployed. About 37,000 Army Guard soldiers have been sent to Iraq since the war began and 140 have died there — one fatality for every 264 soldiers who have served, or about a 35% higher death rate.

There are several reasons for the greater death rates among so-called part-time soldiers, who generally drill one weekend a month and two weeks during the summer when there's no war. The Pentagon has called up thousands of part-time troops for tours of a year or more in Iraq. Some of the most dangerous missions, including driving convoys and guarding bases and other facilities, frequently are assigned to Guard and reserve troops. Iraqi insurgents have attacked convoys with roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades, and a Tennessee Guardsman publicly complained to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week about the lack of armor on some vehicles...."

USATODAY.com - Rate of Guard deaths higher

Northstarmom

AP story from 2005:
"WASHINGTON — The National Guard and Reserves are suffering a strikingly higher share of U.S. casualties in Iraq, their portion of American military deaths nearly doubling since last year.

Reservists have accounted for one-quarter of all U.S. deaths since the Iraq war began, but the proportion has grown over time. It was 10 percent for the five weeks it took to topple Baghdad in the spring of 2003, and 20 percent for 2004 as a whole.

The trend accelerated this year. For the first nine months of 2005 reservists accounted for 36 percent of U.S. deaths, and for August and September it was 56 percent, according to Pentagon figures.

The Army National Guard, Army Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve accounted for more than half of all U.S. deaths in August and in September — the first time that has happened in consecutive months. The only other month in which it even approached 50 percent was June 2004..."

The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Reservist deaths high in Iraq

ishkabob

this sucks....i want to help me country but if I do.....I know I'll probably die...thats my luck!