Life and Death in the US Army

Using standardized mortality ratios, this study compares the sex- and race-specific, age-adjusted death rates for all US Army soldiers with those for the entire US population. Results show that soldiers are currently dying at a rate that is only half that of their civilian counterparts. The most striking difference in death rates by cause is a markedly lower homicide death rate for Army black men; homicides among the civilian black male population are 12 times more frequent than in the Army. Some factors that might account for these lower mortality rates in the Army are discussed.