In the immediate aftermath of the liberation of Kuwait from the occupying Iraqi forces, this base was a hub for the US military buzzing with daily activity. It is worth noting that the war itself was over by the end of February 1991, so it is no surprise that events happening in July do not count in loss statistics for combat but this has also served to almost conceal this disaster in the aftermath of a successful war.Ĭamp Doha was a large sprawling military compound located at Ad Dawah, a small projection of land jutting out into Kuwait Bay about 15 km west of Kuwait City. The incident in question was a major fire at Doha, Kuwait, a fire that destroyed over 100 American military vehicles, including 4 M1 Abrams, and is likely the worst one-day loss of vehicles suffered by the US Army since WW2. Consider the single largest loss of M1s which took place after the shooting war was over but was still in the theater. This serves to illustrate a key problem with counting losses even by the winning side, even with few numbers in a relatively well-defined space and time, but if that is not complex enough as ‘counting’. In a single report, different figures for losses and damage are confusing enough and may be related to the period of time in which both groups are defining the terms of their analysis. According to the same report, it is reported that, for the Bradley, 20 of the 28 (71 %) lost were due to friendly fire but also that the Army’s Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff reported only 20 Bradleys as destroyed and 12 damaged with friendly fire accounting for 85% and 25% of those respectively. Wikipedia, for example, lists the loss or disabling of 31 M1 tanks, 28 Bradley IFVs, and a single M113 for US forces.Īccording to the Government Accounting Office (G.A.O.), however, of the 3,113 M1 Abrams and 2,200 Bradleys to the theatre (with 1,089 and 470 respectively held in a theatre reserve), 9 M1s were destroyed with 14 damaged, 7 of the 9 by friendly fire (78 %) and the other 2 (22 %) deliberately to prevent capture after being disabled. Losses of equipment, however, are less clear. Official figures from the US military for their losses of personnel during the 1990-1991 Gulf War are well recorded, with a total of 298 men and women killed and 467 wounded across the services.
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