SALT LAKE CITY — Eleven U.S. soldiers were evacuated from Iraq with potential blast injuries in the days after Iran’s recent missile strikes on two air bases housing U.S. forces and President Donald Trump’s announcement that “no Americans were harmed” in the attack.
It now appears that announcement may have been rushed, as blast injuries — known as “shell shock” during World War I — may not be immediately recognized due to a lack of symptoms, as shown in a 2015 study by Veterans Affairs.
“While no U.S. service members were killed in the Jan. 8 Iranian attack on al-Asad Air base, several were treated for concussion symptoms from the blast and are still being assessed,” U.S. Central Command spokesman Capt. Bill Urban said in a statement Friday.
The 11 soldiers were flown out of Iraq sometime in the days following the missile blasts “out of an abundance of caution” for screening, Urban’s statement continued.
Eight soldiers were flown to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and three were taken to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, according to the statement. Nine days after the attack, none had apparently been cleared to return.
“When deemed fit for duty, the service members are expected to return to Iraq following screening,” Urban said. He said Central Command would not discuss the medical status of the soldiers.
The statement was released after The New York Times and Defense One — a news outlet that covers national security and the defense industry — reported this week that some soldiers had be evaluated for concussion following the missile blasts.
A building being used by drone operators attempting to spare their aircraft from the missiles, a guard tower that was occupied during the barrage — because of the fear that a ground assault could following the missile strike — a dining hall, and a hangar were among the facilities damaged during the attack, according to The New York Times.
Soldiers that do not show symptoms of traumatic brain injury (TBI) following “blasts from bombs, grenades, and other devices” may still have damage to their brain, according to a Veteran Affairs study from 2015.
Researchers at the VA have found that brain function and structure changed following a blast and that brain injury was possible even if the person exposed to the blast never suffered a concussion, National Public Radio in Boston reported last year.
“The American people should be extremely grateful and happy no Americans were harmed in last night’s attack by the Iranian regime,” Trump said after the attack. “We suffered no casualties, all of our soldiers are safe, and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases.”
At the time of the president’s speech, less than 24 hours after the soldiers on those air bases in Iraq sustained blasts from ballistic missiles, it would have been too early to determine whether those soldiers were harmed.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said at Tehran’s Friday prayer — the supreme leader’s first time leading prayer in eight years — that “American clowns” wanted to put a “poisoned dagger” in the back of Iran, while the U.S. pretended to support Iranians, according to The Associated Press. Tension between the two countries appeared to have plateaued over the last week in the wake of the killing of the general of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and the retaliatory missile strike to American forces in Iraq.