This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Soldiers, sailors and airmen from Utah are still being deployed overseas. And that leads to more hugs and joyful tears during homecomings at airports and in driveways and living rooms.

But the deployments are fewer than they once were, and so are the somber scenes of military funerals.

Utah is poised to go a calendar year with none of its residents-turned-soldiers killed in combat. The last time a Utahn died in combat was May 12, 2013, when an improvised explosive device killed Cody Towse, 21, in Sanjaray, Afghanistan. The Army posthumously promoted Towse, of Salem, to specialist.

The next-most-recent Utahns killed in combat died Aug. 6, 2011, when Petty Officers 1st Class Jason Workman, of Blanding, and Jared Day, of Taylorsville, both Navy Seals, were aboard a helicopter shot down 60 miles from Kabul, Afghanistan.

The trend hasn't just been confined to Utah. American combat deaths in Afghanistan are on pace to be at their lowest number since 2004, according to the independent website icasualties.org.

And, in Iraq, just three U.S. personnel have been killed in Iraq this year, according to the website. In 2007, 904 U.S. military members died in Iraq — the worst year of the fighting there.

There are far fewer combat troops in Iraq today than there were seven years ago, and the U.S. military has slowly been reducing troops in Afghanistan.

The American troops remaining in those two countries are fighting less and leaving more combat for the Iraqi and Afghan soldiers.

That has helped keep down the death toll for the U.S. troops and for Utah.

Of the 68 Utah combat deaths The Salt Lake Tribune has recorded since 9/11, the vast majority were active-duty military. Reservists or National Guard soldiers from Utah were a fraction of those killed.

For those soldiers who are still in combat, technology has improved.

Soldiers wear more protective gear than ever. The mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle — known as MRAPs — were designed to protect personnel from roadside bombs. There also are electronic jamming devices used to prevent enemies from detonating the bombs with a cellphone.

And the Army has transitioned to the M-4 rifle. It's shorter and lighter than the M-16 and better suited to the close-quarters fighting soldiers are more likely to experience in Afghanistan.

Utah Army National Guard Lt. Col. Steve Fairbourn, who has served one deployment to Afghanistan, credited the technology improvements with saving lives.

"We can never eliminate [deaths]," Fairbourn said. "But in many ways when we entered the war on terror, a lot of the doctrines were new; were not well known. So a lot of development has taken place over that time frame."

There are still military personnel from Utah deployed to fight. Airmen of the 388th and 419th fighter wings from Hill Air Force Base are deployed to southwest Asia — the Air Force does not want to disclose where — so F-16s can provide air support during combat.

ncarlisle@sltrib.com

Twitter: @natecarlisle