How the Pentagon counts — and leaves out — troops killed in war

The U.S. military’s reporting of casualties in the Iran war has drawn criticism for months, with the Pentagon providing little explanation for delayed reports of wounded and shifting casualty counts. Even the number of U.S. troops who have died while deployed to the region, which the Pentagon now says is 19, has been questioned in recent media reports.

Veterans of previous conflicts who once were responsible for updating the public on casualty numbers in those wars say the Pentagon is facing a credibility crisis.

“All anyone’s asking for is just be transparent with the process,” said Joe Plenzler, a retired Marine Corps spokesperson for Gen. James Mattis during the early years of the Iraq War.

The Pentagon’s decision to divide Iran-related casualties into different categories and timeframes without context creates confusion, he said.

“That doesn’t mean something to your audience, the lay American taxpayer who just wants to know: How many kids have died since it started? How many have been wounded since it started?” Plenzler said. “If you can’t give them straight answers, or if it keeps on shifting around, then that’s the Department of Defense to clarify. That’s not on the media. That’s not on the American people.”

Since the Iran war began Feb. 28, just over 830 service members have been wounded, according to the Pentagon’s public database, which at times has seen hundreds of injuries appear overnight. As of Monday, the Pentagon reported its nineteenth service member death tied to operations in the Middle East. Last week, the Washington Post reported that more troops have died in the Middle East since the war started — four more than what appears on the Defense Casualty Accounting System website.

“It’s entirely possible that the Pentagon’s telling the truth … but the fact that nobody believes them is a consequence of prior choices.”

A defense official told Task & Purpose that “the deaths reported by the Washington Post were not directly related to the war with Iran.” Inquiries seeking more context on those deaths were sent to the Army, Air Force, Navy, and U.S. Central Command officials who referred Task & Purpose to the Department of Defense, which did not respond. The Marine Corps said no Marines have died in the Middle East since Feb. 28.

“Even if we wanted to attempt to hide a combat death, we never would and we never could,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in response to the report.

Kori Schake, head of defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, said the Pentagon’s overall lack of transparency surrounding the war is adding to growing distrust around how it is or is not reporting casualties.

“It’s entirely possible that the Pentagon’s telling the truth … but the fact that nobody believes them is a consequence of prior choices,” Schake said. “The leadership of the Defense Department has squandered the public trust in their behavior, and now they are paying the price for it.”

Cliff Gilmore, a retired Marine Corps spokesperson and a former casualty assistance calls officer, said he sees a gray zone emerging as there are casualties in countries that were considered safe decades ago, like Kuwait or Saudi Arabia.

“I went in and out of Kuwait on my way in and out of Afghanistan and Iraq, and once we got to Kuwait, we were safe,” Gilmore said. “We have non-combat zone designated places getting hit now, and it’s a gap in policy.”

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That gap has gotten the attention of Democratic lawmakers who are backing legislation aimed at preventing the Pentagon from “manipulating” casualty data and ensuring troops supporting the war are not denied benefits like awards, pay, or other deployment entitlements.

Adding to the controversy is the Pentagon’s decision to classify deaths and injuries of troops in the Middle East since July under “overseas operations,” which a defense official said is in use “since Operation Epic Fury has concluded.” That includes three soldiers who died in Jordan, one in Iraq and an Army officer who died this month from a medical incident.

The bill establishes definitions such as a “covered casualty,” which includes troops who died or were injured while supporting a “designated military operation,” or were in the region, which would cover the military’s actions since Operation Epic Fury reportedly ended.

Why categorization matters

Experts noted that accurately reporting casualties is crucial for troops and their families.

“There are lots of repercussions to the fact that those deaths and injuries are reported accurately, so that the individuals and their families get the benefits, the attention, the coverage that they have earned and deserve,” said Dave Lapan, a former Pentagon spokesperson who also served on missions in Afghanistan and Haiti. “Any perception that the department is playing fast and loose with casualty reporting is very damaging.”

Lapan noted a 2005 incident in which sailors on both the USS Ashland and USS Kearsarge ships were awarded combat action ribbons when their ships were attacked by missiles in Jordan.

“There were questions about whether the crew of the ship was in danger from this missile,” Lapan said. “These guys are on a ship in a port, and a missile is sent that way. What does that mean for the crew? Is that hostile fire?”

Nearly all U.S. conflicts produce casualties whose deaths defy neat labels.

In 1991’s Desert Storm, Army Maj. Marie Rossi-Cayton, the first woman to lead Army helicopters in combat, was killed returning from a mission to transport prisoners of war. Her death came one day after hostilities officially ended and her husband spent three decades fighting to have her posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.

Even the recognition of service members killed during the Vietnam War remains controversial. The Pentagon has maintained the same criteria for counting Vietnam casualties since 1965, but family and crew members of the USS Frank E. Evans, a Navy destroyer that sank and killed 74 crew after a collision at sea about 200 miles outside the formal combat zone, have continued to fight and change that classification.

Non-hostile and hostile deaths

The military has historically separated troops killed in combat from other causes of death during a war. That distinction can produce different death tolls depending on what is being counted, said retired Air Force Lt. Col. William Astore, a military historian who has taught at the Air Force Academy and Naval Postgraduate School.

The death of a service member who was deployed or supporting a war is classified in the Pentagon’s database as “non-hostile” if it was an accident, illness, suicide, or another non-combat event.

Neta Crawford, co-founder of the Costs of War Project based at Brown University, said tracking hostile and non-hostile deaths provides a clear picture of the military’s force at war, since those in supporting roles still “provide the capacity for the people at the pointy end of the spear to do the work.”

“They want to tell you that the war is going fine, and they want to believe that, and it’s going to plan, and sometimes they’re able to say that because they’re not counting the casualties that are in the rear,” she said. “It’s politically useful.”

Task & Purpose’s Austin Campbell and Matt White contributed reporting to this story.