Basic Training: ABC's of NBC

WAR IS NOT THE HELL IT USED TO BE

Believe it or not, the battlefield of olden times is not the killing field from ancient or even early American history. Consider that MERS, a disease that found only nosocomial settings outbreaks with no wider community spread, had a case fatality rate of 39%, or 39% of those who were infected died, while during the War Between the States, 43% of those who served in uniform were injured or killed in the war. And, for thoughts of olden time battle may be the reason why, while over 75% of age-eligible Americans are unqualified to begin military service, only less than one percent are so inclined to do so, thinking like in a pandemic, they are going to die if they join the army.

Well, Pussycats, you actually have a one percent chance of getting a Purple Heart license plate and only a one percent chance of dying in battle, Lieutenant Dans, but considering the fact that in the Commonwealth of Virginia, 7% of kids, 36% of adults aged 18 to 64 and 68% of those age 65 and over are boosted, 40% of kids are fully vaccinated, 73% of adults aged 18 to 65, and 93% of seniors over the age of 65, for a 1.18% case fatality rate pathogen, compared with 1.3% chance of being a fatality if involved in an automobile accident, we can safely assume that most folks did not ace probability and statistics, and this validates that pandemics are historically associated with fear, confusion and despair, and death doth make cowards of most us all.

So, for those who missed basic training, being unqualified or not so inclined, this is a brief primer on what you would have learned in general about the combined armed concept that officers are not instructed fully until the mid career captain's course, and it basically informs a person as to why not even the grunts in the army would develop a weapon that defies the Mutually Assured Destruction Doctrine.