Although precise comparable data is not available for other U.S. conflicts, military experts told Scripps reporters Lisa Hoffman and Annette Rainville that the number of American children left bereaved or made orphans by the Iraq war is unprecedented in scope.

It represents, as Scripps put it in a graphic, about 18 large school buses fully packed with kids.

"This is a new state of affairs we have to confront," said Charles Moskos, a leading military sociologist and a Northwestern University professor. "As much as we are concerned about veterans' programs, we now have to be concerned about orphan programs. This is the first time we have crossed this threshold."

Among the parents who died, according to Scripps, were six female soldiers who had borne a total of 10 children, which Hoffman and Rainville termed "another historic first for females in the U.S. military."