Pentagon shifts Iran war casualties to new category

The Pentagon this week began a review of the U.S. military mission in Europe that could lead to changes in the U.S. force posture as Washington presses allies to assume more of NATO’s conventional defense responsibilities.

Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s top strategist, said the review was “designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe taking primary responsibility for its conventional defense.”

“The outcome of this Review will be an acceleration of NATO’s transition to a stronger, more equitable, and sustainable alliance,” Colby said in a series of posts on X late Monday.

Colby said Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, head of U.S. European Command and NATO’s supreme allied commander, would coordinate the effort with senior Defense Department officials.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the review in June during a meeting of NATO defense ministers. He said allies would be judged on their contributions, with “some countries” failing the assessment and others passing “with flying colors.”

The review followed President Donald Trump’s criticism of some NATO allies over their refusal to support the U.S. war with Iran. According to Hegseth, the Pentagon will consider which countries align with its priorities and provide base access and overflight rights during military operations.

The Pentagon has repeatedly said during Trump’s second term that it wants European allies to take on most of the continent’s conventional defense while the U.S. maintains its role in NATO’s nuclear deterrent.

Colby said the review, expected to take up to six months, will provide options that account for “geopolitical and military realities.” He said the goal is to restore NATO’s “character as a powerful warfighting organization,” which he calls NATO 3.0.

Grynkewich said last year that 2027 could be a flashpoint for simultaneous conflicts with China and Russia. “We’re going to need every bit of kit and equipment and munitions that we can in order to beat that,” he said.

The Pentagon has not detailed any potential troop cuts in Europe, but changes could be substantial if allies are expected to replace U.S. capabilities there.

The U.S. military presence in Europe has already declined over the past year. In October, the Army ended a rotational brigade mission in Romania. In May, an armored brigade deployment to Poland was canceled.

The Pentagon has also said it will cut 5,000 troops from Germany. One affected unit was a long-range fires team expected to deploy there in 2026.

Trump has also directed the Pentagon to send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland, though that has not yet been carried out. The U.S. could increase forces there by restarting rotations or moving troops from Germany to Poland.

The Pentagon changed how it reports casualties tied to Operation Epic Fury, the U.S.-Israel military campaign that began Feb. 28 with strikes on Iran.

In an update posted Sunday, the Defense Casualty Analysis System placed U.S. casualties suffered since July 7 in a category labeled “Overseas Operations (OO) Casualty Summary,” separate from those listed under Operation Epic Fury.

The change followed criticism that the Pentagon had reduced the number of U.S. troops reported killed and wounded in the war with Iran.

On July 17, three U.S. service members were killed when an Iranian missile hit their barracks at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. A fourth service member died July 19 in a separate incident in Erbil, Iraq, during a controlled detonation of an attack drone.

The Pentagon had first updated its system to show 18 killed, then lowered that number to 14.

On July 23, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell disputed a New York Times report about the lower total. “Our Pentagon Press Office gave the New York Times a courtesy off-the-record phone call explaining in detail that the site errors on the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) were due to a temporary data disruption. Our team explained we are working on it being resolved in coordination with the Military Services,” he wrote on X.

Under the overseas operations category, the Pentagon reported 207 U.S. service members wounded in action. It listed 417 wounded during Operation Epic Fury. Combined, the two categories total 624 wounded service members. The total number listed as killed was 18.

The post-July 7 count began one day before the collapse of the June ceasefire between the United States and Iran. After that, U.S. Central Command carried out 13 consecutive nightly strikes on Iran.

The U.S. Navy issued updated influenza vaccination guidance late last week, requiring some service members to get the annual shot.

The change followed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s April announcement that flu shots would be optional for active-duty, reserve, and civilian Defense Department personnel.

“The influenza vaccine is highly encouraged to prevent outbreaks that can degrade unit readiness, disrupt training schedules, and deployment execution, which adversely impacts mission,” a Friday Navy administrative message said.

Under the guidance, the vaccine remained required for service members in initial entry training programs, including Officer Candidate School, academy preparatory school, the United States Naval Academy, Officer Development School, other officer accession programs, and directly commissioned officers.

It also applied to Navy healthcare personnel who interact with patients, personnel deployed to countries or theaters that require influenza vaccination, and several groups of Navy reservists. Those groups included reservists who provide patient care, reservists at risk of exposure to infectious diseases, personnel employed by the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Enhanced Response Enterprise, reservists on Title 10 orders deployed to theaters requiring vaccination, and reservists on Title 10 orders for formal military or nominative training near areas where service members live or work, such as bases.

The message said service members could receive exemptions under religious accommodations and at the discretion of local commanders.

In April, Hegseth said ending the previous requirement was intended to support the “freedom” of service members and said requirements like the COVID-19 vaccine mandate would not return.

The Defense Department required service members to receive the COVID-19 vaccine from Aug. 24, 2021, through Jan. 10, 2023. More than 8,000 service members who refused it were involuntarily discharged, but they have since been allowed to rejoin under the Trump administration.

Two months after Hegseth’s announcement, more than 220 trainees at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas were sickened in an influenza outbreak. A basic military trainee from the 737th Training Support Squadron died June 16 at Brooke Army Medical Center from the flu, a Texas official said. After the outbreak, the Air Force received an exception to vaccinate all trainees.