SQL Server: better / faster way of combining multiple counts in select - sql

Question

I am using the below stored procedure in order to combine multiple counts.
This works fine so far and returns the following XML, i.e. a count of records for each of the last 6 months.
As I am pretty new to SQL and all these counts are done on the same table I was wondering if there is a better / faster way to achieve the same.
Example result (XML):
<ranks>
<groupCount>18</groupCount>
<groupCount>15</groupCount>
<groupCount>21</groupCount>
<groupCount>13</groupCount>
<groupCount>15</groupCount>
<groupCount>19</groupCount>
</ranks>
My stored procedure:
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON;
SELECT COUNT(*) AS groupCount
FROM Log_PE
WHERE CONVERT(DATE, dateEsc, 120) >= CONVERT(DATE, CONVERT(VARCHAR(6), GETDATE(), 112) + '01', 112)
UNION ALL
SELECT COUNT(*) AS groupCount
FROM Log_PE
WHERE CONVERT(DATE, dateEsc, 120) >= CONVERT(DATE, CONVERT(VARCHAR(6), DATEADD(month, -1, GETDATE()), 112) + '01', 112)
UNION ALL
SELECT COUNT(*) AS groupCount
FROM Log_PE
WHERE CONVERT(DATE, dateEsc, 120) >= CONVERT(DATE, CONVERT(VARCHAR(6), DATEADD(month, -2, GETDATE()), 112) + '01', 112)
UNION ALL
SELECT COUNT(*) AS groupCount
FROM Log_PE
WHERE CONVERT(DATE, dateEsc, 120) >= CONVERT(DATE, CONVERT(VARCHAR(6), DATEADD(month, -3, GETDATE()), 112) + '01', 112)
UNION ALL
SELECT COUNT(*) AS groupCount
FROM Log_PE
WHERE CONVERT(DATE, dateEsc, 120) >= CONVERT(DATE, CONVERT(VARCHAR(6), DATEADD(month, -4, GETDATE()), 112) + '01', 112)
UNION ALL
SELECT COUNT(*) AS groupCount
FROM Log_PE
WHERE CONVERT(DATE, dateEsc, 120) >= CONVERT(DATE, CONVERT(VARCHAR(6), DATEADD(month, -5, GETDATE()), 112) + '01', 112)
FOR XML PATH(''), ROOT('ranks')
END
Many thanks for any help with this, Tim.

Answer 1

Your requirements seem to conflict with what you are doing in your SQL
select CONVERT(DATE, CONVERT(VARCHAR(6), GETDATE(), 112) + '01', 112)
will get the first day of the current month
select CONVERT(DATE, CONVERT(VARCHAR(6), GETDATE(), 112) + '02', 112)
will get the second day of the current month
To get the count of the last 6 complete months of records grouped by month
SELECT COUNT(*) AS groupCount
FROM Log_PE
WHERE dateEsc >= CAST(DATEADD(day, 1, DATEADD(month, -6, DATEADD(day, day(GETDATE())*-1, GETDATE()))) as DATE) --the first day of the month, 6 months ago
AND dateEsc < DATEADD(day, (day(GETDATE())*-1)+1, GETDATE()) -- the first day of current month
GROUP BY year(dateEsc), month(dateEsc)
ORDER BY year(dateEsc), month(dateEsc)
FOR XML PATH(''), ROOT('ranks')
Here is a SQL Fiddle: http://www.sqlfiddle.com/#!3/3ff71/7