{"id":266960,"date":"2026-08-27T14:21:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T14:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/266960\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T14:21:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T14:21:16","slug":"they-survived-an-iran-war-drone-attack-six-months-later-theyre-struggling-to-get-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/266960\/","title":{"rendered":"They survived an Iran war drone attack. Six months later, they\u2019re struggling to get care."},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: This article<\/a> first appeared on The War Horse<\/a>, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service. Subscribe to their newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The soldier wakes at 6 a.m. after getting only three or four hours of sleep.<\/p>\n

He showers, shaves and puts on his uniform by 7 a.m., even as his head pounds from a traumatic brain injury. Sometimes, while walking to a mandatory daily roll call, the piece of shrapnel still lodged in his back catches on his shirt.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not in the barracks. He is recovering at the Soldier Recovery Unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s horrible,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m here to recover, not show up in uniform and play Army games.\u201d<\/p>\n

This soldier was critically wounded in the Iranian attack on Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, that killed six service members and injured dozens more.<\/a> Four months later, he said, he was only recently able to see a neurologist for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of things that they missed that I should have done a long time ago,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His experience was not isolated.<\/p>\n

The War Horse<\/a> spoke with four Army Reserve soldiers from the 103rd Sustainment Command who were wounded in the attack. They described delayed testing and treatment, inconsistent care depending on which Soldier Recovery Unit received them and restrictions from taking leave to visit family. All four spoke on condition of anonymity because they remain on active-duty orders and feared retaliation that could damage their careers.<\/p>\n

The War Horse corroborated key details of their accounts through separate interviews and reviews of medical records, photographs and documents from the attack and its aftermath.<\/p>\n

Though the soldiers received Purple Hearts<\/a> for being wounded in combat, they said the military medical system was failing to provide the care they needed. <\/p>\n

Two of them, interviewed separately, used nearly the same words: \u201cThe military sees us as numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u2018Peacetime Effect\u2019<\/p>\n

Military medicine has long struggled with what researchers call the \u201cpeacetime effect.\u201d Medical teams become highly proficient at treating combat casualties during war, only to see those skills deteriorate once the fighting is over.<\/p>\n

A 2023 research paper<\/a> by the Institute for Defense Analyses described the cycle bluntly. Military medical forces excel at combat care during wartime, the authors wrote, \u201cbut then see these gains erode after the wars end.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem has concerned federal watchdogs for decades, said Rashmi Agarwal, director of defense capabilities and management at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Her office has monitored whether military medical personnel receive enough training and real-world experience to be prepared for battlefield casualties<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concern is that these personnel just simply don\u2019t have adequate exposure to a high volume of critical injuries, and that leaves them not well prepared to treat these casualties when they\u2019re in the battlefield,\u201d Agarwal said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Delaware Army National Guard troops provides UH-60 helicopter support to MEDAVAC Training during a Combat Lifesaver Course, June 2025. (Daniel Amburg\/Army)<\/p>\n

Recent reports from the GAO<\/a> and the Defense Department\u2019s Office of Inspector General<\/a> have raised similar concerns.<\/p>\n

The military has tried to close that gap by placing military medical units in civilian trauma centers where doctors, nurses and medics can regularly treat patients with severe injuries. Some military hospitals have also begun accepting civilian trauma cases to give their medical staff more experience with the kinds of wounds they could encounter in combat.<\/p>\n

But other developments have moved in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n

In May, ABC News reported that the Army was canceling dozens of medical training courses<\/a> because of a budget shortfall, including courses intended to provide frontline combat care.<\/p>\n

Training issues were already evident before those cuts. In an article published by the Army<\/a>, a senior enlisted medic in the Minnesota Army National Guard wrote that only half of the Army Reserve and National Guard medics sent to the Middle East had completed a critical combat medicine course before deploying in 2024.<\/p>\n

U.S. Central Command, which oversees forces in the Middle East region, and the Department of Defense did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.<\/p>\n

No Evacuation Plan<\/p>\n

The problems in Port Shuaiba began before the March 1 attack.<\/p>\n

Soldiers had requested additional medical support<\/a> in the weeks before the strike, CBS News reported. But when the drone hit, the unit had no established plan to care for the wounded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was absolutely no evacuation plan,\u201d said an Army colonel wounded in the blast. \u201cIf someone happened to have keys for a van in their pocket, then we got that van and we loaded soldiers into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few Kuwaiti ambulances arrived, but the colonel said most of the wounded were transported in an improvised rush.<\/p>\n

It was \u201cGoogling what the closest hospital was and just driving in a panic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Several of the most seriously injured underwent emergency surgery at a Kuwaiti hospital and were medically evacuated on March 4, according to people familiar with their treatment and to open-source flight-tracking data.<\/p>\n

Others remained in Kuwait for more than a week despite perforated eardrums, shrapnel wounds and symptoms of traumatic brain injury. They stayed in safe houses, eating military field rations and takeout while waiting to leave the country.<\/p>\n

A medic eventually conducted traumatic brain injury<\/a> assessments, which helped document that the injuries occurred in combat. But it wasn\u2019t until nine days after the attack that the soldiers boarded a flight to Ramstein Air Base in Germany.<\/p>\n

\"\"A C-17 Globemaster III takes off from the U.S. airbase in Ramstein, Germany, March 27, 2026. (Boris Roessler\/picture alliance via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

When they arrived, the colonel said he felt relieved. He believed the wounded troops would finally receive comprehensive medical care at Landstuhl Medical Center.<\/p>\n

Instead, \u201cone by one they turned us away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Multiple soldiers said Landstuhl staff told them that because they had not arrived on a formal medical evacuation flight, they were not being treated as wounded in action. They were denied inpatient beds and told to schedule outpatient appointments weeks later, in April or May.<\/p>\n

Officials at Landstuhl did not respond to questions from The War Horse.<\/p>\n

The War Horse spoke with multiple experts in military medicine about the soldier\u2019s dealings with Landstuhl staff. All of them said the term \u201cwounded in action\u201d is typically determined by whether troops are wounded by enemy combatants, not by the type of flight they take.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have rated a Purple Heart, which can only be obtained by an injury sustained from direct contact with the enemy, then that\u2019s a MEDEVAC,\u201d said retired Rear Adm. David Lane, a former Navy surgeon who deployed with the Marines and retired in 2018.<\/p>\n

By the time the soldiers reached Fort Hood in mid-March, they were frustrated and still in pain.<\/p>\n

They had gone days without being able to refill prescriptions issued at the hospital in Kuwait. One soldier with a badly injured shoulder had been relying on Motrin and Tylenol. At Fort Hood, she said, she repeatedly had to remind medical providers that she had survived a drone strike.<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks after arriving, one of the soldiers received a call from a German phone number. Landstuhl was finally ready for the appointment he had been told to schedule before leaving Germany.<\/p>\n

Alone in the Recovery Unit<\/p>\n

At the end of March, the soldiers were told they could continue recovering in the Army\u2019s Soldier Recovery Units<\/a>, or SRUs, a network of 14 facilities for wounded, injured or ill soldiers with complex medical needs. Several members of the unit chose to go home instead.<\/p>\n

Others asked to remain together. The Army denied the request and sent them to units across the country, generally based on their home of record. The soldiers were told the policy would place them closer to family and other support.<\/p>\n

\"\"A change-of-command ceremony at the Soldier Recovery Unit at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, February 2025. (Justin Moeller\/Army)<\/p>\n

Instead, some said, the separation left them feeling even more isolated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI literally lived in my room by myself,\u201d one soldier said. \u201cIt kind of took a toll on my mental [health].\u201d<\/p>\n

She asked to join group therapy but was told there were no openings. She requested leave to visit family and was denied. Eventually, she left the Soldier Recovery Unit and turned to the Department of Veterans Affairs for care.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just so fed up, and I didn\u2019t want to be isolated again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But getting care through VA also proved difficult, this soldier said. She said primary care appointments were repeatedly canceled<\/a>, and because her military medical records had not been transferred into the VA system, she could not receive referrals for specialty care, such as neurology or orthopedics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see why a lot of soldiers snap,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause if you\u2019re physically wounded and you\u2019re fighting the VA or you\u2019re fighting military doctors, it messes with your mental health. You give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The War Horse told VA it could not share the soldier\u2019s name or facility because doing so would identify her as a source. The department did not dispute any of her specific claims about her care. Instead, VA press secretary Quinn Slaven criticized the reporting and the reporter, saying she \u201cis not interested in verifying facts\u201d and \u201cprefers to write about hearsay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everyone describes the recovery units negatively.<\/p>\n

The soldier at Walter Reed said his appointments appeared to receive priority, though some were still scheduled two or three months away. Still, he wanted to return home to the Midwest, where he could be near his wife and children and receive treatment at a local trauma center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy can\u2019t they keep me in orders, send me home where I\u2019ll probably do a lot better mentally, and let me finish out care there?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Army Reserve colonel recovering in another SRU said he appreciated the support of the SRU staff. But it took two months for the unit to arrange a CT scan for a persistent cough. The scan showed abnormal tissue growth in his lungs, possibly from inhaling unknown toxic fumes during the blast.<\/p>\n

One problem, he said, is that SRU patients use the same medical facilities as everyone else on the installation. That can leave combat-wounded soldiers waiting alongside patients seeking care for appendicitis, broken bones and other conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere should be a mechanism, I think, to just push us to the front of the line for some of these initial tests, if nothing else,\u201d the colonel said.<\/p>\n

Some soldiers have already been discharged from the SRUs and cleared to return to duty.<\/p>\n

One said he was told his injuries were not severe enough to require complex care, despite a traumatic brain injury, hearing loss and post-traumatic stress disorder. He is now trying to obtain treatment through the civilian health care system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been struggling to get mental help,\u201d he said. He has also not yet seen a neurologist.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a whole complex system that at some point, even me as a soldier, I just give up on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

On July 29, 13 Democratic lawmakers wrote<\/a> to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demanding answers about the treatment of soldiers from the 103rd Sustainment Command.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are alarmed by reports of failures of DoD to provide medical care for soldiers from the Army\u2019s 103rd Sustainment Command who were injured in the strike,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, one of the lawmakers who signed the letter, told The War Horse that she had heard directly from troops with serious brain injuries who waited weeks for care.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is absolutely unacceptable,\u201d Baldwin said.<\/p>\n

For several survivors of the drone attack, however, the larger concern is what their experience says about the military\u2019s ability to care for the next wave of wounded troops as the war with Iran continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese soldiers that are getting injured, they have to advocate for themselves,\u201d said the reservist still recovering at Walter Reed. \u201cIf they don\u2019t, they\u2019re not going to receive proper care, and they\u2019re going to be screwed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s note: This article first appeared on The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[20043,2539,2932,2933,1529,1528,5903,34,196,17876,2540,2377,73198,73199,43904],"class_list":["post-266960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-army-news","tag-circulated-air-force-times","tag-circulated-army-times","tag-circulated-marine-corps-times","tag-circulated-military-times","tag-circulated-navy-times","tag-injuries","tag-iran","tag-iran-war","tag-military-news","tag-military-times","tag-soldiers","tag-troops-injured","tag-walter-reed","tag-wounded-in-action"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117167920480691420","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266960","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=266960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}