Measuring Army Deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan

Abstract : How many soldiers have served in Iraq and Afghanistan? What has the troop mix looked like since September 2001? What effect, if any, has cumulative time in theater had on the Army's capacity to deploy? In October 2008, the Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army asked RAND to assess the demands placed upon the Army by deployments to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan. Army leadership was interested in understanding how many soldiers had served in theater over the course of OIF and OEF. RAND conducted an initial analysis of these issues using December 2008 data; this document summarizes an update to that analysis using December 2011 data. The analyses focused on the active components (ACs) of the services, but with particular attention to the Army's AC. Though telling, the findings were not necessarily surprising. The Army has provided the bulk of U.S. troops to Iraq and Afghanistan -- over 1.5 million troop-years as of December 2011, more than all the other services combined. Moreover, the cumulative amount of time that a soldier has spent deployed has increased by an average of 28% since 2008. In contrast, the percentage not yet deployed and the Army's unutilized capacity to deploy have both decreased. As of December 2011, roughly 73% of AC soldiers had deployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan, up from 67% in December 2008. Most of these soldiers were working on their second, third, or fourth year of cumulative deployed duty. Most of the remaining 27% who have not yet deployed are recent recruits, are forward-stationed in other overseas locations, or have contributed to operations in Iraq and/or Afghanistan by directly supporting the mission from the continental United States. The Army, therefore, retains very little unutilized capacity to deploy additional AC soldiers without lengthening deployments or shortening the time between deployments, both of which increase the burden on those who have already deployed.