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U.S. Military in Iraq
This page was last updated on 03/16/2007

 

 

 

 

 

Iraq in a Nutshell
80 pages
$7.95

Troops

In January 2007, President Bush announced that the military plans to increase the number of U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq by 21,500.

  • There are currently 512,000 US soldiers stationed in Iraq.

  • Some experts suggest that the Army should grow annually by one division, about 20,000 people, until it reaches 750,000 soldiers.

  • From 1979-1991, America had an all-volunteer active-duty force of 780,000.

  • Typically reservists must be mobilized for at least 18 months in order to serve in Iraq (6 months to train and 1 year to serve in the war zone).

  • Under current practices, the National Guard and reserves can be mobilized for only a single tour in Iraq.

  • Almost all of the reserve units had been called once since 9/11/01.

  • In early 2005, about 40% of the force in Iraq was made up of Guard troops and reserves.

  • The Army relies on volunteers willing to serve a second tour.

"Red Team"

From the word "red," the military term for enemy, members of the "Red Team" review and question military operations by predicting how enemies will react.

The team, trained by F. Leavenworth's University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies, falls outside the conventional military staff in order to more capably critique the ideas and battle plans of commanders.

Red Team officers are trained to avoid ethnocentric assumptions to think like the enemy. 

Cost of war

The cost of the Iraq war reached $8.4 billion in 2007, up from $4.4 billion at the beginning of the war in 2003. Combined with combat costs in Afghanistan, the total reaches $9.7 billion a month.

Most of the increase is due to replacement costs for helicopters, airplanes, armored vehicles and other big-item tickets lost or worn in combat.

 

 

 

 

 

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