MARSOC has lost more personnel to plane crashes than enemy action in the last two years....

via Military.com

A tragic Marine KC-130 Hercules crash in Mississippi on Monday afternoon claimed the lives of seven elite troops from Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, officials confirmed Tuesday.

The aircraft, a transport plane assigned to Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 452, a New York-based Reserve unit, went down in LeFlore County, Miss., around 4 p.m. All 16 troops aboard, including 15 Marines and a Navy corpsman, were killed in the service's deadliest aviation accident in years.

Six of the Marines and the corpsman belonged to 2nd Marine Raider Battalion out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, MARSOC spokesman Maj. Nicholas Mannweiler told Military.com. The MARSOC troops had been en route to Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, for a pre-deployment training exercise ahead of a future deployment to the Middle East, Mannweiler said.

Want a kick in the ass?

MARSOC has lost more personnel to plane crashes than enemy action in the last two years.

A unit that excels in combat and is able to face down the enemy (and win on a consistent basis if open source materials are correct) can't beat the dangers inherent with military aviation.

What am I talking about?  Remember this crash from 2015 involving an Army Blackhawk?  via MarineCorpsTimes.

 Seconds after his Black Hawk helicopter took off for a March 10 training mission — filled with seven Marine special operators and three fellow Louisiana Army National Guardsmen — the pilot remarked: "Gee, it's dark as [expletive]."

Less than five minutes later, after a series of maneuvers and radio transmissions that suggested both helo pilots were disoriented by the lack of visibility, the UH-60M hit the waters of Santa Rosa Sound at an unsurvivable speed.

Everyone on board was killed, marking the single deadliest day for Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command since its creation in 2006.

Marines who'd been expecting to provide maritime support for the exercise would instead pilot their watercraft through a debris field.

13 highly skilled Marine Corps Special Operations personnel died in two separate crashes involving military aviation.

The funny/tragic thing is that they do so much high speed stuff that is suppose to be more dangerous.  Parachuting (with modern tech not that big a deal..HAHO/HALO is a different kettle of fish), Combat Swimming (very dangerous..how more people aren't hurt doing that is beyond me), Fast Roping (no big deal) and Mountain Climbing (will hurt or kill with one wrong handhold...especially since I hear they're starting to do free climbing) are a few of the activities where I've personally expected to see a whole barrel full of injuries and even deaths.

Instead its something as mundane as climbing aboard a transport to get a ride somewhere.

Life just ain't fair.