US troops killed in Iran war were in makeshift command center with no overhead protection: report

The six US service members who were killed by an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait were inside a makeshift command center with no overhead protection that had come under question before the war began, according to a new report.The troops were at a tactical operations center by Shuaiba port when Operation Epic Fury began over the weekend, with an Iranian drone fired at their base in the direct aftermath.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the tactical operations center “was fortified.” Military officials told CBS News reported that but the structure the soldiers were in was a triple-wide trailer with no strong protection from an overhead attack.

“We basically had no drone defeat capability,” one source said told the outlet — noting that troops requested more air defense systems but they did not arrive in time.Along with the six killed in Kuwait, the US military said at least 18 service members have been left seriously wounded in the war.The dead service members have not been publicly identified.The trailer’s only fortifications were 12-foot-tall T-walls, a steel-reinforced concrete barrier designed to protect military personnel from explosions and shrapnel, CBS reported.

While the walls could’ve protected the soldiers from a nearby explosion, they would be useless to defend against a drone dive-bombing from above, officials told the outlet.While such structures are not uncommon at American military bases, the facility in Kuwait had been the subject of recent discussions given that it concentrated so many soldiers in a location that was not as well defended as other positions, three officials told CBS.The Shuaiba port also lacked American counter-rocket, artillery and mortar systems, with the defense of the base left to Kuwait’s Patriot missile and other interceptors nearby, two other sources added.Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell denied CBS’s reporting, claiming it was “not true.” ” Every possible measure has been taken to safeguard our ...