hussain0216
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- May 29, 2012
- Messages
- 21,096
- Reaction score
- -22
- Country
- Location
- 34 U.S. soldiers suffered traumatic head injuries in the Iranian missile strike on American bases in retaliation for killing Soleimani - as Trump brushes it off as 'just headaches'
- The Pentagon said on Friday that 34 service members had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury following missile strikes by Iran earlier this month
- President Donald Trump had initially said no troops had been injured in the January 8 strike on the Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq
- Strikes were in retaliation for the killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani
- Trump appeared to downplay the injuries by saying they were 'headaches' and said the cases were not as serious as injuries involving the loss of limbs
- The military said symptoms were not immediately reported after the strike and in some cases became known days later
PUBLISHED: 17:41, 24 January 2020 | UPDATED: 19:01, 24 January 2020
The Pentagon has revealed that 34 service members were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries following the Iranian missile strikes on U.S. troops at an Iraqi base earlier this month.
President Donald Trump had initially said no troops were injured in the January 8 strike on the Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq in a retaliation attack for the killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.
Last week the U.S. military revealed 11 American troops had been treated for concussion symptoms after the attack and this week said additional troops had been moved out of Iraq for potential injuries.
After the first reports that some soldiers had been hurt, Trump referred to them as 'headaches' and said the cases were not as serious as injuries involving the loss of limbs.
+4
The Pentagon has revealed that 34 service members had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury following missile strikes by Iran on a base in Iraq earlier this month. A crater caused by one of the rockets at the base is seen above
The military said symptoms were not immediately reported after the strike and in some cases became known days later.
Pentagon chief spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said on Friday that 17 of the 34 U.S. troops are still under medical observation.
Eight service members who had been previously transported to Germany had been moved to the United States.
The service members were transported earlier Friday and would receive treatment at either Walter Reed military hospital or their home bases.
Nine service members remain in Germany and are undergoing evaluations and treatment.
Pentagon officials have said there had been no effort to minimize or delay information on concussive injuries.
But its handling of the injuries following Tehran's attack has renewed questions over the U.S. military's policy regarding how it deals with suspected brain injuries.
+4
President Donald Trump had initially said he was told that no troops had been injured in the January 8 strike on an Iraq base housing U.S. troops
- When Trump was pressed this week on why he had claimed no troops were injured in the attack, he dismissed the injuries as headaches.
'I heard they had headaches and a couple of other things... and I can report it is not very serious,' Trump said at a press conference in Davos, Switzerland.
+4
Trump had initially said no troops were injured in the January 8 strike on the Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq in a retaliation attack for the killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani
'I don't consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries that I've seen.
'I've seen people with no legs and with no arms. I've seen people that were horribly, horribly injured in that area, that war.'
The exact nature and severity of the apparent brain injuries suffered has not been publicly released.
Air Force Major General Alexus Grynkewich, who visited the troops at Ain al-Asad air base a few days after the attack, said that even now, it is too early to know the severity of injury suffered by those who have been evacuated to Germany and Kuwait.
Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, has been an increasing cause of concern in the military since the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan began, with the Department of Defense reporting more than 375,000 incidents between 2000 and 2018, according to a National Academy of Sciences report released last year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the effects of a TBI can vary significantly depending on the severity - ranging from short-term symptoms to life-long debilitating impacts on cognitive and motor function and behavior, including significant changes in thinking and behavior, depression, anxiety and aggression.
+4
The military said symptoms were not immediately reported after the strike (pictured above) and in some cases became known days later
