Logistics: Iraq on $2,000 a Day (per soldier)

Archives

September 2, 2005

It costs about $2,000 a day to keep an American soldier in Iraq. Most of that cost (over $700,000 a year) represents logistical expense. Troops must be supplied with food, water, electricity, medical care, Internet access, housing and, well, the list goes on and on. Another major expense is the use of many more civilians than in past wars. Not just civilians in the combat zone, but for other support services all the way back to the United States. It gets pretty expensive. In return, you get much more effective combat troops (which is hard to measure, but even journalists are impressed) and a much lower casualty rate (which is easy to measure, and is historically the lowest ever).

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close