This paper provides a basic epidemiologic description of injury deaths in the American military. Death rates of men & women in the military services for unintentional injury, suicide, homicide, & illness were calculated for 1980-1992. During this period, injuries accounted for 81% of all nonhostile deaths among active duty personnel in the Armed Services. The overall suicide rate was 12.5 per 100,000 person years. The rates for suicide & homicide remained stable over the study period. Men in the services die from suicide at about twice the rate of women. (10 refs.)