now i'm starting to get really ticked off.
more research at
http://icasualties.org/ which is usually cited as the source for the data behind that joke.
applying the filter for deaths caused only by Hostile Fire or sniper attacks, and exluding IEDs, car bombs, suicide bombs, all friendly fire incidents, suicides by gun, gunfire deaths that may be included with ambush deaths, and all that.... you still get about 500 deaths. Do the math, and that's an absolute mininum 170 gunfire deaths IN COMBAT per year. That number is a complete lowball by the way that i calculated it (leaving out other causes of death, and only including certain categories of death)...and somehow this 60 number is getting tossed around. Incredible.
Go to icasualties.org and search around. It's a sobering experience, and one that does not leave me feeling like telling jokes.