The Soldiers the Pentagon Says Aren't Injured

Chief warrant officer Rodney Behrman's body was riddled with shrapnel after an Iranian drone hit the unprotected trailer where he was stationed in Kuwait on March 1st. The blast killed six service members. Behrman survived with a massive concussion, hearing loss, vision loss, and serious damage to his lungs. A former litigator who handled car accident cases would recognize this as a textbook traumatic brain injury—permanent and disabling. But the Army classified Behrman as "not seriously injured." He cannot get certain surgeries, procedures, or evaluations. He was not transported to the right treatment facilities, which his family believes compounded his injuries. And he is not alone.

The Pattern of Downplaying War Injuries

The Trump administration has a documented history of minimizing the severity of injuries suffered by American service members. In 2020, after Iran retaliated against Donald Trump's assassination of General Qasem Soleimani, the administration initially claimed that only 11 U.S. soldiers were injured in the strikes on a base in Iraq—and that those injuries were non-serious, just "some headaches." It later emerged that the actual number was over 100 soldiers, all suffering from serious traumatic brain injuries.