{"id":1478,"date":"2026-03-03T21:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T21:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/1478\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T21:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T21:34:07","slug":"fort-campbell-military-families-weigh-iran-war-after-toll-of-iraq-and-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/1478\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Campbell military families weigh Iran war after toll of Iraq and Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 In the military-heavy communities surrounding Fort Campbell, a sprawling U.S. Army base that straddles the Tennessee-Kentucky line, the war in Iran<\/a> is on a lot of people\u2019s minds. <\/p>\n

The base is home to the 101st Airborne Division, known as \u201cthe Screaming Eagles,\u201d which has been a key force in America\u2019s major conflicts since World War II. After Sept. 11, 2001, tens of thousands of troops from the post started regular deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. During troop surges in those countries, yearly combat casualties in the division surpassed some of its deadliest years in Vietnam.<\/p>\n

The towns of Oak Grove, Kentucky, and Clarksville, Tennessee, surround the base and cater to the soldiers there with military clothing stores, barbershops and fast food restaurants. War memorials and monuments fill the cities\u2019 green spaces. There are American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts and military support centers. At Austin Peay State University, in Clarksville, a third of the students are military or veterans. <\/p>\n

\u2018Mixed emotions\u2019 about the conflict<\/p>\n

Juan Munoz is an Army veteran who spent time in Afghanistan and now works as a career counselor in Clarksville for people leaving the military. He said families in the area have \u201cmixed emotions\u201d about the new war. Many younger soldiers are excited to deploy, while their spouses, parents and siblings worry about their safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t ever give up the concern for your loved one, who\u2019s potentially putting themselves in harm\u2019s way,\u201d he said. However, that concern doesn\u2019t stop them from supporting the attack on Iran. \u201cAt the end of the day, they\u2019re going to support their service member.\u201d <\/p>\n

Munoz said he thinks the war is a \u201cgreat move,\u201d because Iran is equipping our enemies<\/a>, putting our troops and our allies in the region in danger. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s what needs to be done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Trust in Trump<\/p>\n

Edward Bauman, a veteran with 23 years in the Army who deployed to Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan, spoke to a reporter on Monday outside an Oak Grove box store. He based his support for the war on his trust in President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy takeaway is there had to have been some reason for him to bomb them. I don\u2019t think he would have just went out of his way to just, \u2018I\u2019m going to bomb these people\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He does not believe Trump is taking America into another prolonged conflict in the Middle East. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be another Afghanistan. It\u2019s not going to be another Iraq. We\u2019re not going to go in and try to occupy them,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Monday that the conflict \u201cis not endless\u201d even as he warned that more American casualties are likely<\/a> in the weeks ahead.<\/p>\n

Many unknowns for families<\/p>\n

Shannon Razsadin, CEO of the Virginia-based nonprofit Military Family Advisory Network, said there is \u201ca good amount of stress and anxiety from the community just around the unknowns right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

In spite of the stress, she said, \u201cThey\u2019re incredibly proud. Military families are proud of their service. And our military, our service members are prepared, and they are ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susan Lynn, a state representative in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) southeast of the Army base, is one of those proud but concerned family members. In 2020, she took to Facebook to thank Trump for not sending her son, who is enlisted in the Air Force, into \u201canother war.\u201d On Saturday, she posted that he has been deployed and asked for prayers.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the time my son was a little boy, he wanted to be in the Air Force,\u201d Lynn said in a phone interview on Monday. \u201cHe\u2019s extremely patriotic. He will do anything to support our commander in chief. And I feel the same way. That if our commander in chief has made this executive decision, that this is something we should do, then I will trust that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some veterans oppose the attack<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Chris McFarland, another veteran who served out of Fort Campbell and deployed to Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan, has been making his opposition to the war in Iran well known. As soon as he learned of it, he had a sign made declaring \u201cNo more wars\u201d and has been holding it on a major thoroughfare in Clarksville every day. <\/p>\n

McFarland, who leads the nonprofit Veterans for All, which advocates for veteran healthcare, said he has seen some hostility from drivers during his protest, but also some people have pulled over to talk to him. Many want more information about what is happening. <\/p>\n

They are \u201din shock, confused, concerned,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

McFarland does not mince words in describing his personal feelings about the attack on Iran. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is 100% unnecessary. It is unconstitutional. Literally, our own Congress didn\u2019t even approve of this. This was done without anyone\u2019s acknowledgement at 3:00 in the morning to murder people over in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many combat veterans like himself, he said the idea of a new war is bringing up bad memories.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just puts us right back in, right back at ground zero.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press reporter Allen G. Breed in Wake Forest, North Carolina, contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 In the military-heavy communities surrounding Fort Campbell, a sprawling U.S. Army base that straddles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[799,1390,1380,1382,38,1388,197,34,196,94,1378,1384,1383,772,1389,1386,1379,1385,1387,782,1381,200,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-1478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iraq","8":"tag-afghanistan","9":"tag-chris-mcfarland","10":"tag-clarksville","11":"tag-domestic-news","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-edward-bauman","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-iran","16":"tag-iran-war","17":"tag-iraq","18":"tag-juan-munoz","19":"tag-kentucky","20":"tag-ky-state-wire","21":"tag-pete-hegseth","22":"tag-shannon-razsadin","23":"tag-susan-lynn","24":"tag-tennessee","25":"tag-tn-state-wire","26":"tag-u-s-army","27":"tag-u-s-news","28":"tag-veterans","29":"tag-war-and-unrest","30":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116167394923077101","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}