53 year old US soldier dies in Iraq.

My own father fought in WWII and told us of examples of this type of military unraveling. The Allied soldiers could tell the war was close to ending by the age of soldiers they were coming up against and the terrible quality of equipment the Germans were having to use.

Via First Draft, slim of No Fish No Nuts makes an excellent comparison. Look at the loss of this 53 year old US soldier in Iraq and then compare to the ending of WWII and then to the Civil War:

History of Germany during World War II:

[A]fter over five and a half years of conflict, the German Army was a shadow of its former self. Overwhelmed on all sides and suffering from severe shortages, the casualty had grown tremendously. In the final years of the war, the Nazi forces had to resort to old men and boys.

Conscription by the Confederacy:

The first Confederate conscription law also applied to men between 18 and 35, providing for substitution (repealed Dec. 1863) and exemptions. A revision, approved 27 Sept. 1862, raised the age to 45; 5 days later the legislators passed the expanded Exemption Act. The Conscription Act of Feb. 1864 called all men between 17 and 50.