Wounded US soldiers say military medical care failed them after Iran drone strike in Kuwait

Left · 2Nine injured US service members spoke on the record to the Associated Press about the military medical care they received, saying it frequently left them fighting to secure treatment on their own. 1 2 Left · 2They were among dozens wounded in an Iranian drone strike on 1 March at Port Shuaiba in Kuwait, on the second day of the US war with Iran; the attack killed six troops. 1 2 Right · 1The AP's wire copy, carried by Arab News, adds that the wounded are raising concerns publicly, many for the first time, about whether commanders underestimated the threat, and that the Pentagon has so far released few details about the strike. 3

Left · 2Army Lt. Col. Arturo Lincón had shrapnel damage a vertebral artery that supplies blood to the brain, putting him at risk of a stroke. The Army did not admit him to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany; he was sent to barracks and told to schedule outpatient appointments himself. 1 2 Left · 2Chief Warrant Officer 4 Rodney Bearman, with shrapnel wounds from his face to his legs, said that about ten days after the strike the wounded were flown to Germany on a cargo aircraft, strapped to the floor. On landing they found they had not been documented as combat casualties, which he attributed to a coding error, so they were not admitted to Landstuhl. 1 2 Left · 2Maj. Stephen Ramsbottom, who needed surgery to remove shrapnel from his head, said he waited more than four months for MRI results and had to build his own case for everything. Medical documents showed he and another officer received no formal traumatic brain injury diagnosis until reaching Fort Hood, Texas. 1 2

Left · 1Maj. Billy Key said he received no specialized care until mid-April, when he was assigned to a soldier recovery unit for head trauma, hearing loss and lung damage from smoke inhalation. 1 Left · 1Immediately after the strike, soldiers treated one another with tourniquets and basic first aid and used Google to find the nearest hospital in Kuwait City, about 20 minutes away. The most critically injured were flown out of Kuwait within two days, while others waited because continued Iranian missile and drone threats made evacuation flights too hazardous. 1 Left · 1Lincón later did seven weeks of outpatient therapy at Walter Reed, still has shrapnel near his spinal cord that cannot be removed, and has returned to duty as an instructor at Fort Leavenworth. His one-year temporary passport, issued after his own was destroyed, was reissued as a 10-year passport after AP inquiries to the State Department, and his Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance traumatic injury claim was denied for failing to meet hearing loss thresholds. 1

Left · 2The Pentagon told the AP that all wounded personnel arriving at its facilities are evaluated and may be admitted depending on injury severity under "healthcare-industry practices", and maintained its medical response was appropriate. A Pentagon official said Landstuhl's main wartime mission is to stabilize patients for transport to US facilities rather than admit them. 1 2 Left · 1The Army and Pentagon declined to comment further, with the Army saying it had not yet briefed the families of the fallen on its internal inquiry into the incident. 1 Left · 1Dr. James Kelly of the Invisible Wounds Foundation said delays in diagnosing traumatic brain injuries are common in war and that initial screenings should be done by qualified medical staff, not fellow service members. The AP article also notes that years of drawdowns left the region without major US military medical installations, such as the Air Force Theater Hospital at Balad, Iraq, handed to Iraq in 2011. 1

Left · 1Raw Story adds that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said a drone "squirted" through US defenses, while survivors told CBS News they dispute that account. 2 Right · 1The AP copy carried by Arab News describes it as the Iran war's deadliest strike yet on American troops, and places the story in a war now entering its eighth month that is weighing on Republican candidates as midterm voting begins. 3