The Pentagon has created a new category in its official casualty system to account for those killed and wounded in the renewed US-Iran fighting. This move comes as the military’s operation against Tehran, known as ‘Operation Epic Fury,’ has ended.
Background
The Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) has removed the four soldiers killed and dozens of troops wounded in the latest exchange of fire from its official Iran war tally and placed them in a new category called ‘Overseas Operations.’ The overall total of wounded from the conflict now stands at 642 troops, between the figures listed under Operation Epic Fury and those listed in the new category in the Pentagon’s online system.
A Pentagon official stated that because Operation Epic Fury has concluded, the military has decided to classify casualties tied to the latest strikes in the new category. The official would not offer a date for the formal end of the operation.
The characterization raises questions about properly counting the impact to US service members after the US military carried out nearly two weeks of consecutive strikes against Iran in a bid to gain control of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran responded by striking neighboring countries in the Middle East that host US forces.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
