Grim April for U.S. Troops But Far From High Casualty Counts a Year Ago

April 24, 2006 — -- Pvt. Robert Jason Settles was itching to come home at the end of the month. The 25-year-old Kentucky native had completed five months in Iraq and his family said he was looking forward to the break.

His vacation plans came to a tragic end last week when the Humvee that Settles was traveling in hit a roadside bomb and he was killed.

These deadly improvised explosive devices are responsible for most of the deaths of Americans this month. From Saturday through Monday alone, eight service members were killed by IEDs.

April may be the deadliest month in 2006 so far, coming on the heels of a relatively quiet month of March, when 31 members of the American armed forces were killed.

Nearly 70 American troops -- men and women, sailors, soldiers and Marines -- have died this month as a result of hostile incidents. Nine troops died this past weekend alone.

Fifteen percent of the deaths in April have been from non-hostile accidents. In one accident, seven Marines and one sailor died when a flash flood overturned their vehicle.

But the monthly fatality numbers for 2006 are so far around the average for the war and certainly below the worst months, when the death tolls hit 80, 90 or more than 100. The three worst months so far were November 2004, when 137 Americans died; April 2004, when 135 U.S. troops died; and January 2005, when 107 Americans died.

In comparison to last year, however, the U.S. military has seen improving numbers. The U.S. military has a better handle on dealing with the threat from explosive devices, and it's been more successful apprehending insurgents and those who assist them. In addition, it has handed over more of the security responsibility to Iraqi forces.

The Marines who patrol the dangerous Al Anbar province are under constant threat, though. Although 13 Marines and two soldiers have been killed in hostile action this month, it seems the insurgent activity has somewhat decreased in recent months compared to the heavy fighting in Ramadi, Fallujah, and the towns along the Euphrates River Valley in Al Anbar, where Marines were involved in daily warfare last year and casualties climbed higher.