More troops killed by motorcycle accidents then OEF

[Detcord]

Originally Posted by Mike

You can get a ued fast bike for a whole lot less than $9000.

Alzo there are a whole bunch of us who have disproved your formula.

You are not completely wrong, but should we add avoid parachuting or maybe a combat MOS as well?

Fucking spoilsports need to let us irresponsible yahoos to our own fates.

Some of us old farts have managed to live thru lives of riding and learned some temperence, but those 4-wheeled assassins are everywhere still.


Couple here dodged a truck, hit a deer and died.


In the 60's "Meridian Motorcycles" in Fayettenam launched many a 20 year olddown that long ramp to the street.

"You sure you know how to ride one of these, kid?" "Yah, sure!" ZOOM!

A nw Bonneville was $1195.

Nobody I new got killed then. A few got killed in Veet-Nam...ban war?

Someof us are still riding.

Matter of personal choice.

Yeah, you can get a used bike for less than 9k, but new bikes are still pretty cheap, even for a GI.

As far as the formula goes, a fool is a fool, period. Riding over your limits is foolish for anyone of any age. So is climbing with worn rope, or doing a 100 ft. night dive by yourself. Yet people still do those things and more...

There are two types of risk. "Calculated" risk is something like static-line parachuting. Proper equipment, training, methods, etc., reduce the real risks to very small, predictable, levels.

"Foolhardy" risk is the risk taken by fools. Rappelling on a 120ft. mountain coil left exposed in the backyard sun all summer would be an example of foolhardy risk taking. Only a fool would use that rope for critical support.

The original question in part was:

"Are these deaths a result of recklessness or the fact that novice riders are buying bikes outside their capabilities?"

In many cases, the answer is "yes" they are riding over their capabilities. It doesn't mean "ban fast motorcycles."

I've been riding motorcycles for 35 years, and have had a motorcyle endorsement on my driver's license for 25 years.

On and off road, I've pushed the envelope more than a few times, gone down a few times, and been in a few situations where skill was the only thing that saved my ass from dying. Skill counts for a LOT. The less skill you have as a rider, the less likely you are to survive any kind of emergency situation.

Young GI's did it when you were at Bragg, they did it 20 years ago when I was there, and there's some kid who's going to the Kawasaki dealer tomorrow to do the same thing.

The point isn't about banning anything. It's that fools will do foolish things. Buying a bike with 75 more horsepower than you need to learn basic skills on is foolish.

Ban no, enjoy "dangerous toys," yes. But, when foolish people do foolish things, nobody should be surprised if something bad happens.

[Mike]

nobody should be surprised if something bad happens.[/QUOTE]


Nobody ever was.

But we were all SF volunteers and taking on extra big challenges was part of the driving force.

Foolish or not it's who we were. Some of us went on to where that atitude cme in pretty handy

My advice to youngsters is to stay off motorcycles, but if they insist, then I sure don't give any advice on being careful-that comes with age and senility.

A stately 75 on the road is enough for my old soul these days.

Anyways tha's about as far as I can kick this. Just wish I was young enough to be on one of them UW A teams in Afghanistan. I know that's foolish, but I did 15 months on one in RVN. That was fooish, I lived thru it and have memories I wouldnt give up fer nuthin'.

[CRad]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

Might as well ban alcohol consumption as well, it seems to be working in theater and is a factor in most of the bike accidents.

And marriage, as it is the primary cause of divorce.

TR

Funny you should mention that - According to the Pentagon 56,000 divorces in the Active duty Army, National Guard and Reserves since 2001.

I thought this part of the article was interesting -

Younger troops favor shrieking, race-bred sport bikes while officers and senior noncommissioned officers often cruise on the more laid-back Harleys. Parking lots for special operations units sometimes look like someone issued an order allowing only motorcycles and pickups.

[QRQ 30]

Originally Posted by Sten

Ban motorcycles. It is draconian but it solves the problem.

You forgot the smilie. When I was in Thailand the AFT Cdr was an Air Force General. He did just that, banned motorcycles because they were too "dangerous".

Biggernshit, I had to lease a car and totaled it, and almost myself, within a month. So much for that theory.

OTOH I feel the above stats fail to take into consideration the relative numbers of MC riders vs. military in combat.