Marines and motorcycles

I just read this on CNN and thought it might interest a few people on here.

Marine motorcycle deaths top their Iraq combat fatalities (http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/30/marine.motorcycles/index.html)

Amazing statistic. I hope they can turn it around.

Honestly this doesn't surprise me. We have an Army Ranger camp here, and I ride with a couple of the guys from there occasionally. Generally when they get together, it becomes a competition as to who can ride the fastest and be the best, just like it is on the Ranger training field. A couple of times I've been left in the dust, backing off out of safety concerns while these guys blow past each other through curves, throwing sparks and screaming profanities at each other.

To them it's all in good fun, and when we land somewhere and the beer starts flowing the smack talk starts, and then the riding gets even more aggressive when they get back on the bikes. It's just built into the competitive nature of these guys. They're perfectly safe and normal riders when they aren't coupled with another Ranger, but get two or more of them together and it becomes a dangerous situation.

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The rise in motorcycle deaths isn't confined to Marines. The Navy (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/u_s_navy) says it's had 33 deaths on motorcycles over the past 12 months, a 65 percent jump from the previous time period. And authorities say motorcycle deaths have been a problem in the civilian world, too.