page_title: Casualties of the Iraq War
section_title: Troops fallen ill, injured, or wounded
hierarchical_section_title: Casualties of the Iraq War / Coalition military casualties / Troops fallen ill, injured, or wounded
caption_attribution_description: A Medical evacuation flight (Mississippi Air National Guard's 172nd Airlift Wing/791st Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron) from Balad Air Base, Iraq, to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on February 25, 2007. US Air Force personnel gather patient information on a C-17 aeromedical evacuation mission from Balad Air Base, Iraq to Ramstein Air Base, Germany. The Boeing (formerly McDonnell Douglas) C-17 Globemaster III is a large American airlifter manufactured by Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, and operated by the United States Air Force, British Royal Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, and the Canadian Forces.[3] NATO and Qatar will also acquire the airlifter. The C-17 Globemaster III is capable of rapid strategic delivery of troops and all types of cargo to main operating bases or directly to forward bases in the deployment area. It is also capable of performing tactical airlift, medical evacuation and airdrop missions. The C-17 takes its name from two previous United States cargo aircraft, the C-74 Globemaster and the C-124 Globemaster II. C-17 Specifications: General characteristics Crew: 3: 2 pilots, 1 loadmaster Capacity: 102 troops or 36 litter and 54 ambulatory patients Payload: 170,900 lb (77,519 kg) of cargo distributed at max over 18 463L master pallets or a mix of palletized cargo and vehicles Length: 174 ft (53 m) Wingspan: 169.8 ft (51.75 m) Height: 55.1 ft (16.8 m) Wing area: 3,800 ft² (353 m²) Empty weight: 282,500 lb (128,100 kg) Max takeoff weight: 585,000 lb (265,350 kg) Powerplant: 4× Pratt &amp; Whitney F117-PW-100 turbofans, 40,440 lbf (180 kN) each Fuel capacity: 35,546 US gal (134,556 L) Performance Cruise speed: Mach 0.76 (450 knots, 515 mph, 830 km/h) Range: 2,420 nmi[74] (2,785 mi, 4,482 km) Service ceiling 45,000 ft (13,716 m) Max wing loading: 150 lb/ft² (750 kg/m²) Minimum thrust/weight: 0.277
context_page_description: Estimates of the casualties from the conflict in Iraq have come in several forms, and those estimates of different types of Iraq War casualties vary greatly.
  Estimating war-related deaths poses many challenges. Experts distinguish between population-based studies, which extrapolate from random samples of the population, and body counts, which tally reported deaths and likely significantly underestimate casualties. Population-based studies produce estimates of the number of Iraq War casualties ranging from 151,000 violent deaths as of June 2006 to over a million. Other survey-based studies covering different time-spans find 461,000 total deaths as of June 2011, and 655,000 total deaths as of June 2006. Body counts counted at least 110,600 violent deaths as of April 2009. The Iraq Body Count project documents 185,000 - 208,000 violent civilian deaths through Feb 2020 in their table. All estimates of Iraq War casualties are disputed.
context_section_description: See the overview chart at the top of the page for recent numbers.
  On August 29, 2006, The Christian Science Monitor reported: "Because of new body armor and advances in military medicine, for example, the ratio of combat-zone deaths to those wounded has dropped from 24 percent in Vietnam to 13 percent in Iraq and Afghanistan. In other words, the numbers of those killed as a percentage of overall casualties is lower."
  Many U.S. veterans of the Iraq War have reported a range of serious health issues, including tumors, daily blood in urine and stool, sexual dysfunction, migraines, frequent muscle spasms, and other symptoms similar to the debilitating symptoms of "Gulf War syndrome" reported by many veterans of the 1991 Gulf War, which some believe is related to the U.S.'s use of radioactive depleted uranium.
  A study of U.S. veterans published in July 2004 in The New England Journal of Medicine on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental disorders in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans found that 5 percent to 9.4 percent (depending on the strictness of the PTSD definition used) suffered from PTSD before deployment. After deployment, 6.2 percent to 19.9 percent suffered from PTSD. For the broad definition of PTSD that represents an increase of 10.5 percent (19.9 percent – 9.4 percent = 10.5 percent). That is 10,500 additional cases of PTSD for every 100,000 U.S. troops after they have served in Iraq. ePluribus Media, an independent citizen journalism collective, is tracking and cataloging press-reported possible, probable, or confirmed incidents of post-deployment or combat-zone cases in its PTSD Timeline.
  Information on injuries suffered by troops of other coalition countries is less readily available, but a statement in Hansard indicated that 2,703 U.K. soldiers had been medically evacuated from Iraq for wounds or injuries as of October 4, 2004, and that 155 U.K. troops were wounded in combat in the initial invasion.
  Leishmaniasis has been reported by U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, including visceral leishmaniasis. Leishmaniasis, spread by biting sand fleas, was diagnosed in hundreds of U.S. troops compared to just 32 during the first Gulf War.
caption: Wounded U.S. personnel flown from Iraq to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, for medical treatment. (February 2007)
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