A total of 27,243 Bronze Stars were awarded to Army soldiers for their actions in
the Gulf War. A Bronze Star medal represents "heroic or meritorious achievement
or service....in connection with military operations against an armed enemy."
Friendly fire is believed to have accounted for about 15 percent of all
casualties in 20th century wars.
In the Gulf War, 24 percent of the Americans killed in action (35 of 146) and 15
percent of those wounded (72 of 467) fell victim to their own comrades in arms.
The Marines and the U.S. Army organize their infantry troops similarly:
4 MARINES = 1 FIRE TEAM
3 FIRE TEAMS = 1 SQUAD
(13 MARINES OR ARMY)
3 SQUADS = 1 PLATOON
(43 MARINES OR ARMY)
3 PLATOONS = 1 COMPANY
(182 MARINES OR ARMY)
3 COMPANIES = 1 BATTALION
(905 MARINES OR ARMY)
3 BATTALIONS = 1 REGIMENT (ARMY EQUIVALENT IS BRIGADE)
(3,037 MARINES OR ARMY)
3 REGIMENTS = 1 DIVISION
(9, 111 MARINES OR ARMY)
(From: Coyne, James P. Airpower in the Gulf Washington: Air Force Association, 1992.)
for a text version of this chart, click here
(From: "Gulf War Air Power Survey Summary Report" by Thomas A. Keaney
and Eliot A. Cohen, Washington, 1993)
click here for a text version of this graph
Notes: The selected munitions were those most often employed in the Kuwait theater.
Other types of laser-guided bombs and air-to-surface missiles were used in the war, but not,
principally, in the Kuwait theater.
The Navy and Marine Corps also fired a total of 283 BGM-71 TOW munitions from helicopters.
home · oral history · war stories · weapons · maps · chronology
tapes & transcripts
FRONTLINE · wgbh · pbs online
web site copyright WGBH educational foundation
| 
