# how many military personnel have served in Iraq

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-military-personnel-have-served-in-iraq/383813>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 12, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-military-personnel-have-served-in-iraq/383813 "2006-12-12T14:40:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Lynwood\_Slim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Lynwood\_Slim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynwood_Slim)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-military-personnel-have-served-in-iraq/383813/1 "2006-12-12T14:40:14Z")

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There has been a constant of around 150,000, but Army troops usually have a tour of duty of about a year, some Marine units less, and many personnel have had two to three tours. I think Navy ships stay for a few months. Anyone know how many total have been on duty on the ground or involved in action in Iraq – Army, Marines, Air Force and Navy?

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-military-personnel-have-served-in-iraq/383813/2 "2006-12-12T17:14:08Z")

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A recent USAToday article (no cite ) on military reserves reports 500,000 out of 850,000 reserves and guard troops have served in Iraq. No info in the article on active-duty personnel.

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**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-military-personnel-have-served-in-iraq/383813/3 "2006-12-12T18:00:47Z")

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[Here](http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20060923-0028-veterans-stress.html) is a newspaper article quoting someone from the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation who says that 1.5 million troops have been deployed to either Iraq, Afghanistan, or both.

I recall seeing a similar figure sourced to the VA earlier this year (something like 1 million having served through January 06 or something like that) but I can’t find it online, but that recollection leads me to believe that the 1.5 million figure is not a WAG.

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**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-military-personnel-have-served-in-iraq/383813/4 "2006-12-12T18:57:35Z")

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[QUOTE=Lynwood Slim]  
There has been a constant of around 150,000, but Army troops usually have a tour of duty of about a year, some Marine units less, and many personnel have had two to three tours. I think Navy ships stay for a few months. Anyone know how many total have been on duty on the ground or involved in action in Iraq – Army, Marines, Air Force and Navy?

Thanks.  
[/QUOTE]

Presumably you’re referring to deployments during the invasion. However, there have been U.S. personnel deployed in Iraq (or next to it, enforcing the no-fly zone) continuously since the Gulf War.