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VA » Health Care » Public Health » Military Exposures » Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses » About the Gulf War

Public Health

About the Gulf War

The Gulf War, an offensive led by U.S. and coalition troops, followed the August 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Operations included Desert Shield from August 2, 1990 to January 16, 1991, and Desert Storm from January 17, 1991 to April 6, 1991. 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 website, to learn more about Operations Desert Shield and Storm in 1990-1991.

A new group of Gulf War Veterans was created by Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2010) and Operation New Dawn (2010-2011).

VA defines Gulf War Veterans as Veterans who served on active duty in the Southwest Asia theater of military operations any time from August 2, 1990 to present.

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