“I’ve had to build my own case for everything,” Maj. Stephen Ramsbottom told The Associated Press after waiting more than four months for MRI results. Accounts from wounded soldiers describe a military system that routed people injured in an Iranian drone strike through confusing transfers, delayed evaluations and paperwork battles, as commanders and officials controlled access to care.
Nine wounded U.S. service members spoke on the record to the AP, an uncommon step for troops still in the Army. Soldiers and family members described failures to recognize serious injuries, a poor plan for taking the wounded to hospitals and red tape that hindered follow-up care. The Pentagon declined to comment on the AP’s reporting. The Army said it hadn’t yet briefed families of those killed on the investigation’s outcome.
The Wounded Left to Navigate Care
Army Lt. Col. Arturo Lincón stood about 7 feet from the March 1, 2026, blast at Port Shuaiba in Kuwait. Shrapnel cut through his jaw and salivary gland, severed an artery and lodged in a vertebra. Damage to his left vertebral artery put him at risk of a stroke, but the Army didn’t consider his injuries serious enough for admission to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.
Lincón said a nurse at Landstuhl marveled that he was alive. Rather than admit him, staff sent him to nearby Army barracks and told him to arrange outpatient appointments. “I was just kind of on my own, at least it felt like that,” he said.
He spent a week hospitalized in Kuwait, where doctors removed shrapnel from his jaw. Medical staff told him the blast caused a traumatic brain injury, ruptured his eardrum and briefly blinded him. He said he went days without pain medication, then carried a CD of his Kuwait medical records to an emergency-room doctor at Landstuhl. The doctor worried that Lincón still hadn’t been evaluated by a trauma team.
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Rodney Bearman said shrapnel was embedded from his face to his legs. After brief treatment in Kuwait, Iranian missiles and drones made evacuation flights risky, so officials sent him and other soldiers to the homes of U.S. government employees. About 10 days after the attack, they flew on a cargo plane, sitting on the floor with straps. In Germany, Bearman said, they learned they weren’t documented as wounded in combat and wouldn’t be admitted to Landstuhl. Staff sent them to barracks and told them to obtain outpatient care.
“Never did I think that if I was wounded that these things would happen,” Bearman said. “Some sacred trust that I thought would never be broken was broken.” He said a coding error led to the designation.
Readiness, Records and Delayed Treatment
The Iranian drone strike killed six U.S. soldiers and injured dozens. It was the deadliest known strike on U.S. troops since Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28, 2026. The soldiers had provided logistical support for critical supplies, while the Pentagon released few details about the strike.
Maj. Stephen Ramsbottom and three other people familiar with high-level briefings told the AP that generals focused more on defending against missiles and were unprepared for drone warfare. They requested anonymity because they feared reprisal. Their accounts expose a gap between decisions made high in the military hierarchy and the risks soldiers faced on the ground.
After about a week in Germany, many injured soldiers went to Fort Hood in Texas for the Army demobilization process. Medical records Ramsbottom and another officer shared with the AP showed they weren’t diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries until Fort Hood. The unnamed officer said he received no care for weeks after diagnosis and had to find specialists himself, including a neuro-ophthalmologist for blurred vision.
Maj. Billy Key said specialized care didn’t arrive until mid-April, when the Army sent him to a U.S. soldier recovery unit for a head injury, hearing loss and smoke inhalation that damaged his lungs. “It took too long,” he said.
Dr. James Kelly, chief medical scientist at the Invisible Wounds Foundation, said delays in diagnosing traumatic brain injuries remained common and could affect early treatment and the likelihood of a good outcome. The article identifies the foundation’s focus as military brain injuries but provides no information about its funding. Kelly said a medically trained person, not another soldier, should conduct an initial thorough examination. Medical records, he added, too often note only a concussion, which can be overlooked.
A Pentagon official said Landstuhl’s mission, particularly during battlefield-casualty situations, is to stabilize patients for transfer to a U.S. military hospital for specialized treatment rather than admit them. Major U.S.-run medical facilities in the region had closed after years of disinvestment and drawdowns by administrations and political leaders seeking to end U.S. involvement in the Middle East. The Iraqi government took over Air Force Theater Hospital at Joint Base Balad in Iraq in 2011.
The War’s Costs and the Official Account
By October 2026, the war had lasted seven months. Its effects on the economy concerned Republicans ahead of the midterm elections, with high costs and gas prices major issues for rural voters. Trump kept dismissing those concerns on the campaign trail.
Trump also said Monday that the United States had moved all its long-range bombers out of the United Kingdom in response to “a threat.” Asked who made it, he said, “They would be linked to Iran.” The AP reported that the Air Force withdrew all B-1 bombers stationed at an air base in southern England after an investigation uncovered a planned terror attack. The aircraft, used in strikes on Iran, returned to their home bases in the United States.
The Pentagon said medical care was appropriate and that staff evaluate all wounded troops who arrive at its medical facilities. Admission decisions, it said, depend on injury severity and physicians following “healthcare-industry practices.” Lincón, meanwhile, said his medical records might be incomplete. He said officials denied his claim for Traumatic Injury benefits under the Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance because it didn’t meet the hearing-loss threshold, without addressing his other issues. The Army’s Human Resources Command did not immediately respond to the AP’s request for an explanation.