A MOUNTING DEATH TOLL: RECALCULATING THE “LEAST COSTLY WAR”

On paper, Operation Desert Storm seemed, in 1991, to be history’s least costly war, in terms of American lives — with only 383 dead.

Since then, however, Gulf veterans’ deaths have surged far beyond those of other Americans of similar age. And projections for the next decade paint an even grimmer picture.

1991	Gulf War deaths, official total	383
1997	VA-reported Gulf veteran deaths	4,506
2002	VA-reported Gulf veteran deaths	10,324
	Includes 8,013 from those in the conflict itself and 2,311 from those in the theater.
	Unofficial estimate	40,000
	*Estimate provided by a VA source to former U.S. Air Force Captain and flight nurse Joyce Riley.
2013	Projected Gulf veteran deaths	80,000-100,000

The projected death toll of 80,000-100,000 compares to an estimated 30,217 deaths projected over a 22-year span (1991-2013) in a similar group of Americans not sent to the Persian Gulf, according to demographics from the National Vital Statistics Report. (See “Desert Storm: Deadlier than Vietnam?”.)