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South Carolina Bears Excessive Share of War Burden - Disproportionate Number of Dead Soldiers

State is 26th in population but 8th in deaths per resident

11 of the 20 soldiers Killed from South Carolina were Black

While the whole nation is at war, troops from small towns in South Carolina -- such as Allendale and Orangeburg -- disproportionately are doing the dying. An analysis by The State of Iraq casualties shows the war's death rate for South Carolina -- the 26th-largest state -- is eighth in the United States at almost one death per 200,000 residents. That's 50 percent above the national average. More populous states in the North and even the South rank in the bottom half in deaths per resident. Florida, the nation's fourth-largest state, ranks 42nd; North Carolina, the 11th-largest state, is 40th. The war's death rate for California, the nation's largest state, ranks 27th. Sixteen of the 20 killed from South Carolina came from hometowns with populations of less than 20,000. Eleven of the 20 service members from South Carolina were black.The State's analysis mirrors other studies of Iraq war casualties. Those have found that service members killed came disproportionately from small hometowns and counties with low education and income levels, like most of rural South Carolina. [more

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Another study found 44.3 percent of all soldiers killed in Iraq came from hometowns with a population of less than 20,000. In a different study for the Austin American-Statesman newspaper, University of Texas sociologist Robert Cushing reported those killed in Iraq were 16 percent more likely to live in a county with lower-than-average levels of college education and below-average incomes. Those killed who came from the nation's large cities disproportionately were black or Hispanic, Cushing found. [more ]