US Troops Trained to Dig Mass Graves Amid Plans for a New Attack on Iran

WASHINGTON — The US Army has reportedly trained soldiers to dig mass graves for troops killed in war, preparing for the possibility of large numbers of fatalities should conflict break out again in future. The exercise was the first of its kind since the Korean War of 1950–53, Newsweek reported.

The report of the mass-grave training came as tensions between the US and Iran escalated again, while the war’s death toll remained disputed. Last month, The Washington Post reported that at least 22 US military personnel had been killed, four more than the figure released by the Pentagon.

The Washington Post said some of the deaths were not directly caused by the Iran war, but involved US personnel stationed in the Middle East. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth denied the newspaper’s report.

Newsweek reported on Thursday (29 October 2026) that the exercise, named Operation Dragon Covenant Phase II, began last month and was held at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It involved troops from the 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command and the 20th Engineer Brigade, along with religious support personnel.

Using bulldozers, excavators and other heavy equipment, they practised establishing temporary burial grounds and handling the remains of soldiers killed in a large-scale war. In a statement, the US Army said it had not conducted mass-grave excavation training since the Korean War, in which 36,515 US personnel were killed or went missing and another 7,245 were captured.

During nearly 25 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the remains of US personnel killed in action were sent home promptly, without the need for extensive burial operations. The current exercise is intended to prepare the military for a situation in which casualties are so numerous that fellow soldiers cannot bury each person separately or hold individual religious burial rites.

Under US Army standards, a temporary cemetery complex consists of five trenches, with sufficient capacity to bury 100 bodies at once. During the exercise in North Carolina, soldiers used heavy equipment to prepare each burial plot within a target time of one hour and 15 minutes.

According to the US Army, eight bulldozers and four excavators could help bury 2,400 soldiers in 24 hours. The training also focused on preserving the integrity of remains so that they could be identified and eventually returned to the United States.

First Sergeant Delbert Ruede of the 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command told Newsweek that the exercise helped the military assess how to bury and honour soldiers killed in war. He said it was intended to replace an improvised response to wartime events with a systematic, field-tested approach to caring for the dead.