Commando readiness across the service branches is at an all-time high thanks to a reduction in global missions, but the casualties they have taken in war zones are also up compared to the rest of the military, a U.S. Special Operations Command official acknowledged Wednesday.
All 10 U.S. deaths in Afghanistan to date this year, with the exception of three Marines killed by an IED near Bagram airfield, were Army special operations troops or their enablers.
Of 13 deaths last year in Afghanistan, nine were special operators and their enablers and three were troops on advising missions killed by insider attacks. All but one combat casualty — a special operations airman — belonged to the Army.
