Evacuation of U.S. troops from Mideast base sends community groups scrambling to help : NPR
A plume of smoke rises after an Iranian strike on fuel tanks in Muharraq, Bahrain, March 12.
Fadhel Madhan/AFP via Getty Images
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Fadhel Madhan/AFP via Getty Images
NPR has learned that hundreds of sailors were evacuated to the United States from their base in Bahrain after the base was attacked by Iranian missiles and drones. In addition to the Bahrain base, NPR has learned that other U.S. military bases in the region have been evacuated, although the exact details are unknown at this point.
Bahrain is home to the Navy’s 5th Fleet, making it a central hub for ensuring maritime security in the Middle East region, including the protection of commercial shipping. The country is an island in the Persian Gulf located approximately 124 nautical miles from the Iranian coast, putting Bahrain within range of Iranian drone and missile strikes.
About 8,000 people were stationed at the Bahrain base before the United States attacked Iran on February 28.
On the first day of the war, the base, known as Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bahrain, was struck several times. Social media posts showed an Iranian ballistic missile and drones hitting the base. Planet satellite images show that at least seven buildings in and around the base were hit between February 28 and March 6.
In response to an NPR inquiry, a Navy spokesperson acknowledged that 1,500 sailors, their families and several hundred pets had been repatriated to the United States from NSA Bahrain.
Sailors have been arriving in Norfolk, Virginia, home to the world’s largest naval base, since at least mid-March. Several groups that provide aid to military personnel say the sailors arrived with very little. A call was made to community groups for basic supplies like hygiene products.
“The base was asking for donations of toiletries and various things for the returning sailors, because they were coming back with nothing,” said Derrick Johnson, commander of American Legion Post 327 in Norfolk.
The post hosted a spaghetti dinner for some sailors, said Keith Shanesy, one of the post’s vice commanders.
“They literally told them, ‘Take what you can fit in your backpack. You have to go,'” he said. “They came with no uniform, nothing. The three we met first, they came with the clothes on their backs, what they could fit in that backpack.”
The Navy provided services including “crisis counseling, financial and legal assistance, relocation support, educational resources, children and youth program coordination,” according to Lt. Cmdr. Kara Handley.
And the USO, which provides support to service members and their families, provided aid to Norfolk sailors as they arrived from various locations in the Middle East, according to David Carrier, with the national USO.
The Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society has distributed $1 million to about 2,000 sailors and their families since evacuations began, said the group’s chief of operations, Dawn Cutler, a retired rear admiral.
“I saw a girl – she had a 2-week-old, a 2-year-old and a dog in a cage and a suitcase. So at that point, you know, she was looking to get out of danger, to get to a safe place. And now we’re at the point where families are back and they’re starting to ask the question, ‘Well, what’s next? Are we going back?'” Cutler said.
The money is mainly used to pay for basic necessities and provide bridge loans so families can pay basic expenses while they wait for the government to reimburse them, which can take months, she said.
“I understand that the pet situation was quite a challenge. We had heard that there would be no movement of pets. But then a change was made, but some were put on different flights. People didn’t have a cage for a cat, so we helped get them back through our volunteers,” she said.
When troops go overseas, they do not maintain a home in the United States. The military requires service members to designate a safe haven where they will be transferred in the event of an emergency. Some sailors have gone to live with relatives, while others remain on bases in the United States. MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, and Joint Base Charleston in South Carolina have also been hubs for return flights.
On April 1, the Navy issued updated guidance for Sailors and evacuated families. The department has been studying how people can be reimbursed for their stay in a hotel room, including families who were temporarily relocated to Italy and Germany before being repatriated to the United States.
The Navy does not yet have an answer on what will happen to the cars and furniture left behind in the rush to leave. The Navy also does not tell evacuees when or if they will return to their bases in the Middle East.
Geoff Brumfiel contributed to this story.
