BellaCH: Casualty (person)

2023-10-07T15:52:12Z

Casualty (person)

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{{Short description|Military personnel, unavailable for duty}}
{{Redirect|Casualties|the band|The Casualties}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
[[File:Dead german member of Waffen-SS.jpg|thumb|Dead German member of [[Waffen-SS]], Northern France, 19 June 1944]]
A '''casualty''', as a term in [[military]] usage, is a person in [[military service]], [[combatant]] or [[non-combatant]], who becomes unavailable for duty due to any of several circumstances, including [[death]], injury, illness, capture or [[desertion]].

In [[civilian]] usage, a casualty is a person who is killed, wounded or incapacitated by some event; the term is usually used to describe multiple deaths and injuries due to violent incidents or [[disaster]]s. It is sometimes misunderstood to mean "[[Death|fatalities]]", but non-fatal injuries are also casualties.

==Military usage==
[[File:Punaisten ruumiita Kalevankankaan hautausmaalla Tampereen taistelun jälkeen (26365985413).jpg|thumb|Unburied bodies of the [[Red Guards (Finland)|Reds]] at [[Kalevankangas Cemetery|Kalevankangas cemetery]] after the [[Battle of Tampere]] during the 1918 [[Finnish Civil War]].|alt=Unburied and unclothed bodies of the Reds lie in the foreground at the Kalevankangas cemetery after the Battle of Tampere. On the right, around five crosses can be seen, while black silhouettes of people are visible against the sky in the background.]]
In military usage, a ''{{dfn|casualty}}'' is a person in service [[killed in action]], killed by [[disease]], diseased, disabled by injuries, disabled by [[psychological trauma]], [[prisoner of war|captured]], [[desertion|deserted]], or [[missing in action|missing]], but not someone who sustains injuries which do not prevent them from fighting. Any casualty is no longer available for the immediate battle or campaign, the major consideration in combat; the number of casualties is simply the number of members of a unit who are not available for duty. The word has been used in a military context since at least 1513.<ref name=oed>Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed gives a 1513 reference for military casualty, and an 1844 reference for civilian use</ref>

''{{dfn|Civilian casualties}}'' are [[civilian]]s killed or injured by [[military personnel]] or [[combatants]], sometimes instead referred to by the [[Euphemism|euphemistic]] expression "[[collateral damage]]".

===NATO definitions===
The military organisation [[NATO]] uses the following definitions:

====Casualty====
In relation to personnel, any person who is lost to his organization by reason of being declared dead, wounded, diseased, detained, captured or missing.<ref name="nato.int">{{citation|url=https://wss.apan.org/432/Files/Events/TE-03/Supporting%20Documents/NATO%20Terms%20%20and%20Definitions.pdf|title=AAP-6, NATO Glossary of terms and definitions|date=7 August 2000|author=J.J.R. Taillefer|access-date=13 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707135832/https://wss.apan.org/432/Files/Events/TE-03/Supporting%2520Documents/NATO%2520Terms%2520%2520and%2520Definitions.pdf|archive-date=7 July 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==== Battle casualty====
Any casualty incurred as the direct result of hostile action, sustained in combat or relating thereto, or sustained going to or returning from a combat mission.<ref name="nato.int"/>

====Non-battle casualty====
A person who is not a battle casualty, but who is lost to his organization by reason of disease or injury, including persons dying from disease or injury, or by reason of being missing where the absence does not appear to be voluntary or due to enemy action or to being interned.<ref name="nato.int"/><ref name="Staff1986">{{cite book|author=United States. Joint Chiefs of Staff|title=Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, Incorporating the NATO and IADB Dictionaries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0y4T2F_XQPsC&pg=PA246|year=1986|publisher=Joint Chiefs of Staff|page=246}}</ref>

===Other definitions===
These definitions are popular among military historians.

====Irrecoverable casualty====
In relation to personnel, any person [[killed in action]], [[missing in action]] or who died of wounds or diseases before being evacuated to a medical installation.<ref name= "mil_med">{{cite web|url=http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Military+Medical+Casualties|title=Military Medical Casualties|access-date=5 May 2013|quote= "''Military Medical Casualties are losses during wars of armed forces personnel on account of wounds or other effects received from various kinds of weapons, as well as those who are admitted to aid stations or medical installations for more than 24 hours. Military medical casualties are one category of battle casualties, which also include what are called irrecoverable losses—those already dead or who die of wounds before reaching an aid station, those missing in action, and those taken prisoner. Military medical casualties usually greatly exceed irrecoverable losses—for example, the ratio was about 4:1 in World War I and about 3:1 in World War II. A distinction is made between combat and noncombat military medical casualties. The former refers to casualties that are the result of wounds, trauma, burns, ionizing radiation contamination, poisoning, and frostbite; the latter refers to casualties that are the result of noncombat injuries and diseases not related to weapons.''"}}</ref><ref name="Krivosheyev_cas">{{cite web |editor=Krivosheyev, G. F. |title=Россия и СССР в войнах XX века: Потери вооруженных сил: Статистическое исследование |trans-title=Russia and the USSR in the Wars of the Twentieth Century: Losses of the Armed Forces. A Statistical Study |url=http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/1939-1945/KRIWOSHEEW/poteri.txt#w02.htm-186 |language=ru }}</ref>

====Medical casualty====

In relation to personnel, any person incapacitated by wounds sustained or diseases contracted in a combat zone, as well as any person admitted to a medical installation for treatment or recuperation for more than a day. There is a distinction between '''combat medical casualty''' and '''non-combat medical casualty'''. The former refers to a medical casualty that is a direct result of combat action; the latter refers to a medical casualty that is not a direct result of combat action.<ref name= "mil_med"/><ref name="Krivosheyev_cas"/>

====Civilian casualties====
{{Main|Civilian casualties}}
Civilian casualties refers to civilians that are killed or wounded as a direct result of military action.

====Killed in action====
{{Main|Killed in action}}
A casualty classification generally used to describe any person killed by means of the action of hostile forces.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict/data/k/03003.html|title=U.S. Department of Defense Dictionary: killed in action|access-date=2007-02-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927022355/http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict/data/k/03003.html#|archive-date=27 September 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

====Missing in action====
{{Main|Missing in action}}
A casualty classification generally used to describe any person reported missing during combat operations. They may have [[Desertion|deserted]], or may have been [[killed in action|killed]], [[Wounded in action|wounded]], or taken [[Prisoner of war|prisoner]].

====Wounded in action====
{{Main|Wounded in action}}
[[File:Laceration buttocks shell fragment MSHWR part II, vol 2 pag 430.png|thumb|Shell fragment injury, [[American Civil War]]]]
A casualty classification generally used to describe any person who has incurred an injury by means of action of hostile forces.<ref name="nato.int"/>

====Prisoner of war====
{{Main|Prisoner of war}}
A casualty classification generally used to describe any person captured and held in custody by hostile forces.

==Civilian usage==
The word "casualty" has been used since 1844 in civilian life.<ref name=oed/>

==Incidence==

===Military and civilian fatalities===
According to [[World Health Organization|WHO]] ''World health report 2004'', deaths from ''intentional'' injuries (including war, violence, and [[suicide]]) were estimated to be 2.8% of all deaths.<ref name=who2004>{{cite web | author=World Health Organization | year= 2004 | work = The world health report 2004 – changing history | title = Annex Table 2: Deaths by cause, sex and mortality stratum in WHO regions, estimates for 2002 | url =https://www.who.int/entity/whr/2004/annex/topic/en/annex_2_en.pdf | access-date = 2008-11-01}}</ref> In the same report, ''unintentional'' injury was estimated to be responsible for 6.2% of all deaths.<ref name=who2004/>

==See also==
*[[List of causes of death by rate]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*''America's Wars:'' U.S. Casualties and Veterans [http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004615.html]. [[w:Infoplease|Infoplease]].
*Online text [http://www.vlib.us/medical/stats/warcasTC.htm]: ''War Casualties'' (1931), by Albert G. Love, Lt. Colonel, [[Medical Corps (United States Army)|Medical Corps]], U.S.A.. Medical Field Service School, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. The Army Medical Bulletin Number 24.
*Selected Death Tolls for Wars, Massacres and Atrocities Before the 20th Century [http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat0.htm].
*Statistical Summary: America's Major Wars [https://web.archive.org/web/20080311141925/http://www.uspoliticsonline.com/archives/warcost.htm]. U.S. Civil War Center.
*The world's worst massacres [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1510/is_1987_Fall/ai_5151514/print]. By Greg Brecht. Fall, 1987. [[Whole Earth Review]].
*Twentieth Century Atlas – Death Tolls [http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat1.htm] [http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat2.htm] [http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat3.htm] [http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat4.htm] [http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat5.htm] [http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat6.htm] [http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat7.htm] [http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat8.htm] [http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat0.htm].
*Gifford, Brian. "Combat Casualties and Race: What Can We Learn from the 2003–2004 Iraq Conflict?" [http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/31/2/201]. Armed Forces & Society, Jan 2005; vol. 31: pp. 201–225.
*Kummel, Gerhard and Nina Leonhard"Casualties and Civil-Military Relations: The German Polity between Learning and Indifference." [http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/31/4/513].Armed Forces & Society, Jul 2005; vol. 31: pp. 513–535.
*Smith, Hugh. "What Costs Will Democracies Bear? A Review of Popular Theories of Casualty Aversion." [http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/31/4/487]. Armed Forces & Society, Jul 2005; vol. 31: pp. 487–512
*Van Der Meulen, Jan and Joseph Soeters."Considering Casualties: Risk and Loss during Peacekeeping and Warmaking." [http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/31/4/483]. Armed Forces & Society, Jul 2005; vol. 31: pp. 483–486.
*Bennett, Stephen Earl and Richard S. Flickinger. "Americans' Knowledge of U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq, April 2004 to April 2008." [http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/35/3/587]. Armed Forces & Society, Apr 2009; vol. 35: pp. 587–604.
*Varoglu, A. Kadir and Adnan Bicaksiz"Volunteering for Risk: The Culture of the Turkish Armed Forces." [http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/31/4/583]. Armed Forces & Society, Jul 2005; vol. 31: pp. 583–598
*Ben-Ari, Eyal. "Epilogue: A 'Good' Military Death." [http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/31/4/651]. Armed Forces & Society, Jul 2005; vol. 31: pp. 651–664

[[Category:Military terminology]]
[[Category:War casualties| ]]
[[Category:Killings by type]]

Casualty (person) - Revision history

BellaCH: Casualty (person)