How Many Service Members Died In 2016

Washington (CNN)A vehicle accident that killed 1 cadet from the United states of america Military University and injured 21 others Thursday is refocusing attention on a startling statistic -- more than American service members are dying during training exercises than in combat operations.

Between 2006 and 2018, 31.9% of active-duty military deaths were the issue of accidents, according to a congressional report updated last month. By comparison, xvi.iii% of service members who died during that fourth dimension were killed in activity.

And a large majority of those accidents occurred in circumstances unrelated to combat deployments.

One person dead, 21 injured in accident near West Point training site

"Since 2006 ... a total of xvi,652 active-duty personnel and mobilized reservists take died while serving in the US military machine. Seventy-3 percent of these casualties occurred under circumstances unrelated to war," the report states.

It is a trend that has only seemed to pick up momentum of tardily, as noncombat deaths accept exceeded the number of military members killed in action every year since 2015.

In 2017, nearly four times equally many service members died in preparation accidents as were killed in gainsay, co-ordinate to a House Armed Services Committee report related to the National Defense Potency Human action for fiscal year 2019 -- a fundamental point highlighted by many lawmakers and armed services officials who argued for additional defense force spending to help beginning readiness bug that take compounded for years.

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"In all, 21 servicemembers died in combat that year while 80 died equally a result of noncombat training-related accidents," the report said.

The armed forces endured a high charge per unit of training-related deaths again in 2018 and a spate of deadly noncombat military aircraft crashes prompted then-House Military Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, to say the "readiness of the military is at a crisis bespeak."

"This crisis is not limited to military aviation," Thornberry wrote in a 2018 report. "This past summer, the Navy lost 17 Sailors in separate collisions involving the USS McCain and the USS Fitzgerald. Navy investigators later found that both accidents were related to ongoing Navy readiness problems."

1 of the well-nigh recent accidents occurred in March, when two Marine pilots died in a helicopter crash near Yuma, Arizona, during a routine grooming exercise.

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While details on the cause of Th'southward deadly accident remain unclear, the incident serves equally yet another reminder of broader rubber issues related to military training.

Lt. Gen. Darryl A. Williams, the superintendent of the US Military Academy at Westward Point, was unable to immediately provide details about the cause of the rollover vehicle accident, citing the ongoing investigation. He said the proper name of the deceased cadet would not be released until the family was notified.

"Today was a tragic day for the West Point customs and our The states Ground forces," Williams said.

CNN's Jamie Crawford contributed to this report.