Washington state has lost over 150 of its men and women in military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001. Ninety-seven percent (97%) of the fallen service members were male.
Washington Initiative for Boys and Men obtained five lists of fallen service members from the Defense Casualty Analysis System, the official repository of U.S. casualty information. Each list of fallen service members corresponds to one of the American military operations since 2001: Iraqi Freedom, New Dawn, Inherent Resolve, Enduring Freedom, and Freedom’s Sentinel.
This blog post highlights information about lives lost during these five operations, with a focus on the State of Washington.
Note: For the sake of this article, “Washingtonians” are individuals whose home state is listed as Washington. We do not mean to imply that all of them actually identified as Washingtonians. Also, every person has either “male” or “female” listed for their gender. There appear to be no other valid values in the datasets.
On our “Boys and Men’s Issues” webpages, we document that men die earlier and at higher rates compared to women from a variety of causes, including war. War is certainly a men’s issue, and war has impacted men in Washington state. Therefore, WIBM publishes this blog post for readers to consider the impact on men, as a class of people, when the United States chooses to engage in armed conflict.
We are very grateful for the sacrifices of our military service members and their families.
Iraq
Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003 – 2010)
Operation Iraqi Freedom began March 2003 when the U.S. and coalition forces invaded Iraq. The name applied to the U.S. war in Iraq until 2010, when it was replaced by “Operation New Dawn”.
A total of 89 Washingtonians died in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Eighty-five were male and four were female.
The deceased hailed from at least 21 of Washington’s 39 counties (complete list provided at the bottom of this article).
The median age among the fallen men was 24 years old. The youngest were 19 years of age, and their names were Cody Calavan (Lake Stevens, Marines), Nathan Wood (Kirkland, Marines), Adam Emul (Vancouver, Marines), Devon Gibbons (Port Orchard, Army), and Nathan Nakis (Sedro Woolley, Army). The oldest Washington men who died serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom were Robb Needham (age 51, Vancouver, Army) and Ronald Paulsen (age 53, Vancouver, Army).
In addition to considering fallen service members whose home state was Washington, our analysis looks at those whose military unit was based here. There were 200 such men and women who perished in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Ninety-six percent were male.
Operation New Dawn (2010 – 2011)
A total of 74 Americans died in the fifteen-month Operation New Dawn, which ended December 2011. Two of the fallen were from Washington. Their names were Clifford Beattie (age 37, Medical Lake, Army) and Brandon Hocking (age 24, Seattle, Army).
Operation Inherent Resolve (2014 – present)
A third U.S. military operation in Iraq (as well as in Syria and Libya) began in 2014 as Operation Inherent Resolve. This operation, which remains active, is against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and al-Qaeda.
A total of 97 Americans have perished in Operation Inherent Resolve. Four of the fallen were from Washington state. Their names were David Bauders (age 25, Seattle, Army), Jeffrey Cooper (age 25, Mill Creek, Army), Taylor Galvin (age 34, Spokane, Army), and Flando Jackson (age 45, Seattle, Air Force).
Afghanistan
The previously discussed Operations Iraqi Freedom, New Dawn, and Inherent Resolve encompass the vast majority of American military deaths in Iraq since the start of the Global War on Terror. United States operations mostly fought in Afghanistan, on the other hand, are called Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Freedom’s Sentinel.
Operation Enduring Freedom (2001 – 2014)
A total of 58 Washingtonians died in Operation Enduring Freedom. Fifty-seven were male and one was female. They hailed from at least 18 of the state’s 39 counties (complete list provided at the bottom of this article).
The median age among the fallen men was 25 years old. The youngest were age 19. Their names were Eric Ward (Redmond, Marines) and Andrew Shields (Battle Ground, Army). The oldest was Philip Ambard (age 44, Edmonds, Air Force).
Looking at a different group, 100 service members died during Operation Enduring Freedom whose unit was based in Washington state. Ninety-five of the deceased were male and five were female. One of the men was Army Ranger and former NFL player Pat Tillman, whose connections to Washington state we have written about separately.
Operation Enduring Freedom began in October 2001 with U.S. attacks on al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. President Obama announced the operation’s end in 2014. Continued operations in Afghanistan now occur under the name “Operation Freedom’s Sentinel”.
Operation Freedom’s Sentinel (2015 – present)
A total of 93 Americans have perished in Operation Freedom’s Sentinel. Two of the fallen were from Washington state. Their names were Leandro Jasso (age 25, Leavenworth, Army) and Eric Emond (age 39, Brush Prairie, Army).
More information
To learn more about people who hailed from Washington state who have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, see the database maintained by the Military Times.
The tables and graphs below offer more information about Washingtonians who died in U.S. operations during the Global War on Terror.
Iraq
Afghanistan
