โญ๏ธ๐บ๐ธ Nine U.S. service members wounded in the March 1 Iranian drone strike at Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, which killed six troops on the second day of the Iran war, spoke on the record to the Associated Press about what they describe as a medical system that left them fighting for treatment on their own.
Lt. Col. Arturo Lincรณn, who suffered shrapnel wounds to his jaw, neck, and spine, including a severed vertebral artery, was sent to barracks and told to seek outpatient appointments after Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany did not admit him. Chief Warrant Officer 4 Rodney Bearman said he and others injured in the attacks were not properly registered as โwounded in combatโ due to a coding error. Maj. Stephen Ramsbottom said he waited over four months for MRI results and has โhad to build my own case for everything.โ
Lincรณn, who still has shrapnel near his spinal cord and struggles with dizziness, told the AP that, following the attacks, in which his passport was destroyed, he was issued a temporary substitute and asked to prove his citizenship in the process (he was born in Texas to Mexican parents and graduated from West Point). He was also denied a Servicemembersโ Group Life Insurance injury claim.