# Current US troop level in Iraq? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2008, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-us-troop-level-in-iraq/437520 "2008-02-13T23:55:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-us-troop-level-in-iraq/437520/1 "2008-02-13T23:55:26Z")
What is the current number of US troops in Iraq? where is that type of data easily found by interested parties like me? thanks, ever so. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-us-troop-level-in-iraq/437520/2 "2008-02-13T23:56:41Z")
[QUOTE=wring] What is the current number of US troops in Iraq? where is that type of data easily found by interested parties like me? thanks, ever so. [/QUOTE] (sorry forgot to subscribe) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-us-troop-level-in-iraq/437520/3 "2008-02-14T00:07:17Z")
According to the Wikipedia, 158,000 as of last month. > **[Multi-National Force – Iraq](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_Force_in_Iraq)** > > The Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF–I), often referred to as the Coalition forces, was a military command during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and much of the ensuing Iraq War, led by the United States of America (Operation Iraqi Freedom), United Kingdom (Operation Telic), Australia, Italy (Operation Ancient Babylon), Spain and Poland, responsible for conducting and handling military operations. > The MNF-I replaced the previous force, Combined Joint Task Force 7, on 15 May 2004, and was later itself... ---
**Author:** ![GomiBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@GomiBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GomiBoy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-us-troop-level-in-iraq/437520/4 "2008-02-14T14:47:30Z")
Subject to some slight debate… [Iraq ORBAT](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat.htm), but it’s a bit dated and hard to read. Try [this](http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2007/08/iraq-070807-voa04.htm) - I don’t think the numbers have significantly changed since August although I could be wrong. The [New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/world/middleeast/13military.html?em&ex=1203051600&en=402f0446fc391250&ei=5087%0A) seems to think it’s about 160k, Also, there are sometimes some funky counts going on. They sometimes count combat units that are assigned to the theatre but not ‘in’ theatre in the classic sense (i.e. B-52 crews) but don’t count troops who are in theatre but not in combat roles (i.e. rear-echelon support troops like supply and maintenance) so that number might be significantly higher or lower. Also not counted are private contractors in the AO, most famously Blackwater, who are ‘de facto’ US troops but not counted as such. [[QUOTE=Globalsecurity.org](http://QUOTE=Globalsecurity.org)] Number of US Troops in Iraq Reaches All-Time High By VOA News 07 August 2007 The U.S. military says nearly 162,000 American troops are now in Iraq, more than at any other stage of the war. A Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said new troop arrivals are temporarily raising the number of U.S. forces above the 161,000 who helped secure the 2005 Iraqi elections. \ [/QUOTE]