Fog of War Facts
Airman First Class (A1C) Lucas looks out from the helicopter at sunset. (View larger version)
- All Pararescue personnel receive training in emergency cricothyroidotomy ("cric"), the act of establishing a new airway in a patient through a delicate cut through the throat. Some sources suggest that combat rescue personnel can achieve this technique in the dark, using night-vision goggles.
- Eighty percent of civilian casualties in 2011 were caused by Anti-Government Elements, like the Taliban, the Haqqani network, and Herb-e-Islami.
- According to Pentagon data, IED attacks against U.S. troops dropped 8 percent in 2012, but increased 124 percent for Afghan forces, pointing towards the greater role thrust upon local soldiers in handling the conflict.
- U.S. forces discovered 86 percent of IEDs before they exploded in 2012. Despite this, the makeshift bombs accounted for 61 percent of the total U.S. casualties last year.
- New body armor and faster medical evacuations allow for more than 90 percent of Americans injured in battle to survive.
- Troops in Afghanistan are at risk for numerous, and sometimes deadly, diseases that spread through contact with bodily fluid. Examples: Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, CCHF (Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever).
- The first six months of 2012 saw 3,099 civilian casualties in Afghanistan, including 1,145 deaths. PJs operating in country are frequently called to save non-military personnel caught in the crossfire or wounded by IEDs.
