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Survivors of the deadliest Iranian attack connected U.S. forces since the warfare began person disputed the Pentagon's statement of events and said their portion successful Kuwait was near dangerously exposed erstwhile six work members were killed and much than 20 wounded.
Speaking publically for the archetypal time, members of the targeted portion offered CBS News a elaborate relationship of the onslaught and its harrowing aftermath from the position of those connected the ground.
The members CBS News spoke to disputed the statement of events from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who described the drone arsenic a "squirter" — successful that it squirted done the defenses of a fortified portion wrong Kuwait.
"Painting a representation that 'one squeaked through' is simply a falsehood," 1 of the injured soldiers told CBS News. "I privation radical to cognize the portion … was unprepared to supply immoderate defence for itself. It was not a fortified position."
That work member, who similar others spoke connected the information of anonymity due to the fact that of rigid media restrictions wrong the military, said that successful spite of the carnage that ensued, those wrong the charred and splintered compound responded with swiftness, ingenuity and valor that saved lives.
"I don't deliberation that the information situation oregon immoderate enactment determination diminishes successful immoderate mode their sacrifice oregon their service," the subordinate of the Army's 103rd Sustainment Command said successful an interview. "Those soldiers enactment themselves successful harm's mode and … I'm immensely arrogant of them, and their household should beryllium arrogant of them."
These archetypal eyewitness accounts, on with photos and videos of the attack's aftermath obtained exclusively by CBS News, connection the archetypal descriptions of what occurred March 1 astatine the thinly fortified Kuwaiti larboard installation connected the time of the Iranian drone strike.
Smoke rises from the tract of an Iranian drone onslaught that killed six U.S. work members successful Kuwait connected March 1, 2026.
In the hours earlier the attack, incoming rocket alarms had signaled to a unit of astir 60 troops to instrumentality screen successful a cement bunker portion a ballistic rocket flew overhead. But astir 9:15 a.m., an all-clear alert sounded. Officers removed their helmets and returned to their desks successful the wood and tin workspace, astir the width of 3 trailers.
From determination they resumed managing the question of equipment, munitions and unit crossed the Middle East.
About 30 minutes later, "everything shook," 1 worker told CBS News. "And it's thing similar what you spot successful the movies. Your ears are ringing. Everything's fuzzy. Your imaginativeness is blurry. You're dizzy. There's particulate and fume everywhere."
Dazed, the work subordinate surveyed a grisly scene: "Head wounds, dense bleeding, tons of perforated eardrums, and past conscionable shrapnel each over, truthful folks are bleeding from their abdomen, bleeding from arms, bleeding from legs."
A video shows fume billowing from the building, fires smoldering. The blast killed six — the deadliest onslaught connected U.S. troops since 2021 — and injured much than 20 others.
It was a nonstop hit.
Aftermath of the Iranian drone onslaught that killed six U.S. work members successful Kuwait connected March 1, 2026.
"Get disconnected the X"
About 1 week earlier the motorboat of Operation Epic Fury, astir American soldiers and airmen stationed successful Kuwait were relocated to positions successful Jordan and Saudi Arabia and further distant from Iranian rocket range. Some soldiers said enactment advised them they wouldn't beryllium gone agelong — to battalion for 30 days and permission down astir idiosyncratic equipment, including their military-issued computers. The goal: don't beryllium a target.
"The mode it was described was 'Get disconnected the X,'" meaning distant from the information zone, 1 worker who conscionable returned from deployment explained.
But for respective twelve members of the Army's 103rd Sustainment Command astatine a large U.S. basal southbound of Kuwait City, determination were a antithetic acceptable of orders: battalion up everything and relocate to Port of Shuaiba, a smaller subject outpost disconnected Kuwait's confederate coast.
The tactical cognition halfway was akin to structures commonplace during the wars successful Iraq and Afghanistan — earlier the emergence of drone warfare. Steel-reinforced factual barriers known arsenic T-walls surrounded the building. These types of barriers are designed to shield work members from the blast of a mortar oregon rocket but connection nary extortion from aerial attacks.
"It's conscionable benignant of a classic, older subject base," 1 worker recalled. "Some tiny barriers. There's a clump of small tin buildings wherever we tin acceptable up makeshift offices."
From there, a logistics unit would negociate the operational and informational travel of munitions, instrumentality and unit crossed the Middle East theater. Still, the soldiers told CBS News, they had questions astir wherefore they remained good wrong scope of Iran's missiles and drones. One worker said they saw quality showing the station was connected a database of potential Iranian targets.
"We moved person to Iran, to a profoundly unsafe country that was a known target," the worker said. "I don't deliberation determination was a bully crushed ever articulated."
He said they were protected by small much than a bladed furniture of vertical lasting blast barricades that did not supply screen from above.
"From a bunker standpoint, that's astir arsenic anemic arsenic 1 gets," helium said.
Asked to picture the grade of fortification, helium responded: "I mean, I would enactment it successful the nary category. From a drone defence capableness … none."
A Pentagon spokesperson declined to remark connected the soldiers' claims, citing an progressive probe into the Port of Shuaiba attack.
In a station connected X addressing prior CBS News reporting connected the incident, Assistant Secretary of Defense Sean Parnell said "every imaginable measurement has been taken to safeguard our troops — astatine each level" and that "[t]he unafraid installation was fortified with 6-foot walls."
"It was chaos"
As the warfare got underway, it became wide that Iran would beryllium moving distant from a accepted defence and leaning much heavy connected inexpensive and plentiful drones — an arsenal that has changed the conflict calculus successful places similar Ukraine.
It was 1 of those Iranian Shahed drones that detonated straight astatine the halfway of the U.S. soldiers' worksite.
"It was chaos," different injured worker described. "There was nary azygous enactment of patients to triage. You're connected 1 broadside of the occurrence oregon you're connected the different broadside of the fire."
The soldiers, according to witnesses, triaged themselves with makeshift bandages, braces and tourniquets. They commandeered civilian vehicles to thrust the wounded to 2 section Kuwaiti hospitals successful the Kuwait City suburb of Fahaheel.
"One of the hardest things for maine is that I cognize we didn't get everybody out, truthful I cognize that astatine this constituent determination are inactive soldiers wrong determination that inactive haven't been identified and evacuated," 1 subsister said of the tense moments en way to the infirmary earlier different teams extracted the remaining fallen.
"Telling the information is important"
Word of Hegseth's statement of the events astatine a property league successful Washington did not beryllium good with immoderate of the survivors. The caput had described the drone arsenic a "squirter" that "happened to deed a tactical operations halfway that was fortified, but these are almighty weapons."
And portion respective of those acquainted with the events connected the crushed did not hold with the description, they did not privation their remarks to beryllium misconstrued.
"It's not my intent to diminish morale oregon to disparage the Army oregon the Department of War much holistically, but I bash deliberation that telling the information is important and we're not going to larn from these mistakes if we unreal these mistakes didn't happen," 1 worker said.
Asked if the onslaught was an inherent world of engaging successful combat, helium agreed.
"That's true," helium said.
Asked if this onslaught was preventable, the worker added: "In my opinion, absolutely, yes."
"I americium precise bittersweet for their nonaccomplishment and it's thing I'll transportation with maine for the remainder of my life," helium said. "But I'm besides immensely arrogant of them and their sacrifice, and their household should beryllium too."
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