Pentagon Database Omits Two U.S. Service Member Deaths in Middle East, Report Says

The Pentagon's public casualty tracking system has omitted at least two U.S. service member deaths that occurred in the Middle East during the U.S. war with Iran, according to the Washington Post. The omissions bring the minimum confirmed death toll to 22 service members, up from the 18 the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) listed as of Friday, officials said.

The two service members whose deaths were not included in the database are Maj. Sorffly Davius, who died March 6 in Kuwait, and Sgt. Devin Seibel, who died May 31 in Iraq, according to the report, which cited five U.S. officials. Both were deployed in support of operations that the Pentagon has described as separate from the Iran conflict.

The Pentagon press office did not respond to a request for comment. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded to the article on social media, calling the report "DISGUSTING and FAKE" and stating that the Post is "worse than Iranian state media."

The omissions were reported as the Pentagon faces congressional scrutiny over its public accounting of the conflict. The Pentagon's inspector general released its first report on the war with Iran this week, covering April 1 through June 30, finding that munitions expenditure during the war has resulted in inventory shortfalls [1]. The CBO has separately estimated the war cost approximately $38 billion in its first five months, a figure that could rise by another $2 billion to $3 billion for every additional month of fighting https://tinyurl.com/4x79vsn2