Nine U.S. service members wounded in an Iranian drone strike described failures in injury assessments, hospital transfers and follow-up care after the attack killed six U.S. soldiers at Port Shuaiba in Kuwait. The Pentagon said the care was appropriate. Their accounts show the costs of war for soldiers sent to provide logistical support—and families left waiting for answers.
The Wounded and the Care System
Army Lt. Col. Arturo Lincón stood about 7 feet from the blast. Shrapnel pierced his jaw and neck, severed an artery and lodged in a vertebra. His damaged left vertebral artery supplies blood to the brain and put him at risk of a stroke. The Army didn't consider his injuries serious enough for admission to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, though Lincón said a nurse there marveled that he was alive.
“I was just kind of on my own, at least it felt like that,” Lincón said. He went to nearby Army barracks and had to arrange outpatient appointments. Surgeons removed shrapnel from his jaw during a week in a Kuwait hospital, but he said he went days without pain medication. Medical staff told him the blast had caused a traumatic brain injury, ruptured his eardrum and briefly blinded him. At Landstuhl, an emergency-room doctor worried that no trauma team had evaluated him.
Maj. Stephen Ramsbottom said he waited more than four months for MRI results after doctors removed shrapnel from his head. “I've had to build my own case for everything,” he told the AP. “It's very frustrating.” Chief Warrant Officer 4 Rodney Bearman said shrapnel lodged from his face to his legs. After Iranian missiles and drones made evacuation flights risky, he and other soldiers stayed at the homes of U.S. government employees.
About 10 days after the attack, the wounded soldiers flew on a cargo plane, sitting on the floor and using straps. Bearman said he could barely eat or lie down. In Germany, soldiers learned officials hadn't documented them as wounded in combat, so they wouldn't be admitted to Landstuhl. Instead, officials sent them to barracks and told them to seek outpatient care. Bearman said a coding error caused the designation. “Some sacred trust that I thought would never be broken was broken,” he said.
Military Readiness and Disinvestment
The March 1, 2026, drone strike was the deadliest known attack on U.S. troops since Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28, 2026. It took place on the second day of the U.S. war with Iran, which began the day after the United States and Israel started the war. The soldiers provided logistical support for critical supplies. The Pentagon has 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 missile defense and weren't prepared for drone warfare. They requested anonymity because they feared reprisal. Soldiers also described a poor hospital-transfer plan and red tape that hindered follow-up care.
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. Years of disinvestment and drawdowns by administrations and political leaders seeking to end U.S. involvement in the Middle East had closed major U.S.-run medical facilities in the region. The United States handed Air Force Theater Hospital at Joint Base Balad in Iraq to the Iraqi government in 2011.
After about a week in Germany, many injured soldiers went to Fort Hood in Texas for the Army demobilization process for returning deployed troops. Medical records Ramsbottom and another officer shared with the AP showed doctors didn't diagnose them 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. Maj. Billy Key said he didn't receive specialized care until mid-April. “It took too long,” he said.
Official Responses and the Wider War
Dr. James Kelly, chief medical scientist at the Invisible Wounds Foundation, said delays in diagnosing traumatic brain injuries remained common and could affect how soon a soldier receives treatment and the likelihood of a good outcome. “It's disappointing but not surprising,” said Kelly, an emeritus professor of neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He said a medically trained person, not another soldier, should conduct an initial thorough examination.
The Pentagon said its medical facilities evaluate all wounded troops who arrive and that physicians decide on admission based on injury severity and “healthcare-industry practices.” The Army declined to comment on the AP's reporting, saying it hadn't yet briefed families of those killed on the investigation's outcome. The Pentagon also declined to comment.
The United States moved its long-range bombers out of the United Kingdom after authorities uncovered a planned terror attack. President Donald Trump said Monday that officials moved the aircraft in response to “a threat” and that those responsible “would be linked to Iran.” The Associated Press reported Sunday that the Air Force withdrew all B-1 bombers stationed at an air base in southern England after an investigation uncovered the planned attack. The aircraft, which had been used in strikes on Iran, returned to their home bases in the United States.
Seven months after Operation Epic Fury began, the war and its effects on the economy remained concerns for Republicans ahead of the midterm elections. The AP reported that high costs and gas prices were major issues for rural voters, while Trump continued to dismiss those concerns on the campaign trail.