Another thing to consider is that, even in total peacetime, there is a high accident/fatality rate for military training. Its just that its so normal and mundane that there is very little publicity and no one really notices.
Every week there is some plane crash, vehicle accident, or other training accident where someone is killed. But it never makes the headlines, and is usually stuck in section D page 4, with about a half a paragraph of written news.
As someone else mentioned, during the first Gulf War, the total deaths per trooper per time in the whole world (and that includes the combat casulties) was actually lower than during peacetime.