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4,000 dead: An in-depth look at the fallen

The number of U.S. troops who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan has reached nearly 4,000. While these sacrifices are more than numbers, the data tell an important human story.

4,000 Sacrifices: Breaking down those lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan

Viewed in this way, the data serve as a powerful reminder of war’s human toll that is not seen in the individual news releases on combat deaths that trickle out of the Pentagon each day. And it reveals more about who these men and women were, where they came from and how they died.

The 4,000 milestone, reached in early July, comes only nine months after the death toll topped 3,000.

The quickening casualty pace is partly a result of the Iraqi insurgents’ increasingly sophisticated use of improvised explosive devices, which have been getting larger and more powerful and are taking out more U.S. troops at once. It also has something to do with the fact that the surge of U.S. forces into Iraq in recent months, an effort to quell the sectarian violence that continues to rage in parts of the country, is providing more targets for the insurgents.

Unless otherwise noted, the figures behind these graphics are based on the 3,973 war dead — 3,574 in Operation Iraqi Freedom and 399 in Operation Enduring Freedom — identified by the Pentagon through July 4. Some figures come from Defense Department sources that are not as current and are not always updated at the same time.