Three U.S. Soldiers Honored for Saving Comrades in Iranian Attack
Three American soldiers wounded in an Iranian attack on a Saudi airbase honored for aiding fellow troops.
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Three U.S. soldiers wounded in an Iranian attack on a Saudi airbase have been honored for their bravery in rescuing fellow service members during the assault. Staff Sgt. Kalob Mitchell, Sgt. Xavier Jones, and Spc. Nicholas Cabo of the 6th Battalion, 56th Air Defense Artillery Regiment were awarded Purple Hearts for their efforts to aid the injured during the March 27 attack at the Prince Sultan Air Base.
Iranian Attack and Immediate Response
The attack, which occurred less than a month after the Iran War began, was marked by the sudden activation of the “Alarm Red” siren at the airbase, signaling an imminent Iranian strike. A 550 lb. ballistic missile landed near their bunker, causing shockwaves and chaos. “Everything went black,” Mitchell told Stars and Stripes. “We’d been hit.”
Video footage purported to show an Iranian ballistic missile strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia, with the missile impacting very close to several U.S. servicemembers, thankfully said to have resulted in only minor injuries to personnel at Prince Sultan. https://t.co/Nlju8TCZ22
After another soldier awoke them, the three soldiers quickly sprang into action. “We heard screams from the opposite side of the bunker. Two soldiers, I’m not too sure who they were, had significant injuries; we ran over there, applied tourniquets, T Triple C (Tactical Combat Casualty Care), everything,” Mitchell recounted.
Mitchell, Cabo, and Jones provided critical aid to a gravely injured soldier, treated one with a neck injury, and helped calm another that became disoriented from the blast. “I think it was just the adrenaline because, after we woke up, I checked myself,” Cabo told Stars and Stripes. “I just saw that my leg was a little bit bleeding, so I didn’t really mind it. It wasn’t anything like crazy bleeding, so we just heard screams and went to go help those guys.”
Impact of the Attack and Ongoing Conflict
It is unclear how many were wounded during the attack. As of Wednesday, the Defense Casualty Analysis System has recorded 21 killed and 865 wounded since the Iran war began on Feb. 28. Multiple American military installations have been hit during the Iranian conflict, with strikes amounting to billions of dollars of damage to military installations, embassies, and other diplomatic facilities. Hundreds of buildings within the American defense infrastructure have been damaged as a result.
Source: Daily Caller
