Washington - Soldiers strained by six years at war are deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980, with the number of Army deserters this year showing an 80 percent increase since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.

While the totals are still far lower than they were during the Vietnam war, when the draft was in effect, they show a steady increase over the past four years and a 42 percent jump since last year.

According to the Army, about nine in every 1,000 soldiers deserted in fiscal year 2007, which ended Sept. 30, compared to nearly seven per 1,000 a year earlier. Overall, 4,698 soldiers deserted this year, compared to 3,301 last year.

The increase comes as the Army continues to bear the brunt of the war demands with many soldiers serving repeated, lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military leaders - including Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey - have acknowledged that the Army has been stretched nearly to the breaking point by the combat. And efforts are under way to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps to lessen the burden and give troops more time off between deployments.

Despite the continued increase in desertions, however, an Associated Press examination of Pentagon figures earlier this year showed that the military does little to find those who bolt, and rarely prosecutes the ones they get. Some are allowed to simply return to their units, while most are given less-than-honorable discharges.

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I suppose the idea of deserting something brings up that old, uncomfortable memory of the one time you were 17 and that 60 year old lady tried to seduce you.

You ran out her front door with your teeny wang trying to poke its head out of the fly of your toughskin jeans.

Sad.

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I'm here for the beer and the ball bustin' band.

LOL!

Another well thought out topical post. How do you do it?

Can't you see that every reply to my thread just garners me more 1) readers to my blog and 2)more listeners to my blogtalk show.

You idiots are SO easy to manipulate.

AND it doesn't change the FACT that the marines are pussies and every damn one is a TRAITOR to America.

Now come back with your juvenile response because like I said, its VERY beneficial to me.

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Toothpicks seem smarter than Fed

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S.O.S. ------ United We Stand, Divided We Fall

He reminds me of the typical Mushroom.. Always in the dark feeding on Bullshit..

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"You are Republican, you would not understand what it is to support the platform of the Democratic party" = Cats Meow..
http://www.tellthechildrenthetruth.com/

Neo-Nazi Fools.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...ican_neo-Nazis

If it ain't broke, Don't Fix It!

cuntyslime, how very original of you.

Isn't Texas filled with steers and queers?

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NBC News reported 188 sucicides of Active duty personal last year or about 2 times the general population.

They also reported that 6,254 Active and Non-active military personnel in 45 states committed sucicide in 2005 (most recent data available). Yes, 6,254 in one year. For the 20-24 year olds the rate is 4 times that of the general population.

That's 120.5 GIs per week commiting sucicide.

The irony here is that they will benefit from programs that Liberals put in place for the rest of their lives.

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Toxic, those are shocking numbers...

I'm floored.

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S.O.S. ------ United We Stand, Divided We Fall

If they are offing thmeselves.... what rest of their lives?

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S.O.S. ------ United We Stand, Divided We Fall