The first Gulf War, an offensive led by U.S. and coalition troops in January 1991, followed the August 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.  The war was over on February 28, 1991, and an official cease-fire was signed in April 1991. The last U.S. troops who participated in the ground war returned home on June 13, 1991.  In all, about 697,000 U.S. troops had been deployed to the Gulf region during the conflict.

Go to GulfLINK*, a Department of Defense Web site, to learn more about the 1990-1991 Gulf War.

A new group of Gulf War Veterans has been created by Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2010) and Operation New Dawn (2010 and continuing).

For VA benefit purposes, Gulf War Veterans are Veterans who served on active duty in the Southwest Asia theater of military operations any time during the first Gulf War starting August 2, 1990 through the current conflict in Iraq.