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It wasn't bullets that took them down, but a casualty-producer the experts didn't count on called Gulf War Illness. So far, according to an April 2002 Department of Veterans Affairs report, an additional 7,758 Desert Storm vets have died, while 198,716 vets have filed claims for medical and compensation benefits. Of the claims filed, 156,031 have been granted as service-connected, with more vets being designated casualties as each day passes. The 198,716 figure represents a staggering 28 percent of the vets – 696,579 – who fought in the Gulf War conflict!

Pardon my skepticism. The death rate involved here is about 1 per 1000 per annum. That doesn't sound like an unusual death rate for men in their twenties and thirties to me. As for the 28% applying for benefits: well, either you believe 200,000 troops were unknowingly victims of CBW during Desert Storm, or you believe it is perfectly possible that none of them were, and the numbers need have no relation to any underlying "Gulf War Syndrome" at all.

Death rates are usually expressed in deaths per 100,000 per annum, so this would be 100 per 100,000. My statistical abstract shows male death rates for ages 15-45 to range from 150 to 250. Female are 50 to 150.

So, the quoted figures are not out of the ordinary at all. OTOH, soldiers are particularly fit and healthy -- but on the other other hand, may be a bit more prone to what really kills most men in those age groups -- accidents, homicide and suicide -- all testosterone fueled.

You could do some really sophisticated analysis, trying to filter out those kinds of causes, etc. But, it sure doesn't look like a death rate that is in any way unusual, on first look.