Deployment data underscore the strain of combat operations

[spindrifter]

By Michelle Tan

American troops have completed more than 2 million combat tours in the five years that the U.S. has been on war footing, according to data obtained by Army Times.

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Since September 2001, a total of 683,380 soldiers have deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq, 163,949 of them at least twice, the Defense Department data show.
Most often, these soldiers have been white males between 20 and 24 with a high school degree or its equivalent, E-4s in the infantry with one to four years of service. A little more than half of them are single.

Across the Defense Department, 1.4 million soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines have served in one or both of those countries, according to the data. Nearly one-third of them, some 420,800 service members, have deployed more than once.

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http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2395712.php