US Middle East Bases “Irreparably Damaged,” Service Member Says

American military bases across the Middle East have sustained heavy and, in some cases, irreversible damage from Iranian strikes over the past seven months, according to a senior US service member who spoke to ABC News, with newly obtained images showing wrecked buildings and a damaged $270 million surveillance aircraft.

What Happened

Images and videos obtained by ABC News show damage to buildings and aircraft at three US bases in Kuwait and a Saudi base hosting American assets, some of which have been evacuated amid continued danger. One photo appears to show an E-3 Sentry surveillance aircraft, valued at roughly $270 million, damaged in late March at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. “These bases have been irreparably damaged. And if we choose to rebuild them, it’s going to be a decades-long undertaking,” a senior US service member, granted anonymity, told ABC News.

“I believe the American people are unaware of the extent of the damage that American bases are taking in [the Middle East] right now due to the conflict with Iran,” the service member said, adding, “This is not something that’s going to be fixed in six months. We’re talking about years and years of construction and rebuilding in order to reestablish what’s been destroyed.” The service member accused the Pentagon of a lack of transparency, saying “there are drone strikes and ballistic missile strikes actively landing on bases every day.”

A Pentagon Inspector General report released this week confirmed “hundreds of buildings and structures” have been damaged at American posts across the region, estimating the war’s total cost at $33 billion, while the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office put the figure at $38 billion.

The Defense Department has not provided public information detailing the extent of damage to US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan, though satellite imagery has consistently captured the impact of strikes. Separately, six US officials familiar with the Defense Department’s internal casualty accounting told reporters that more American service members have died in the Middle East during the war than the Pentagon has disclosed publicly.

Why It Matters

The description of bases as “irreparably damaged,” requiring “decades” to rebuild, represents a significantly starker assessment than the Pentagon’s public statements have conveyed, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth having said only that force protection is the department’s top priority while acknowledging Iran is sometimes able to “penetrate defenses.”

The allegation that actual US casualties exceed the Defense Department’s public disclosures, if accurate, would represent a serious transparency failure regarding one of the most basic and consequential facts of the war, given that the officially disclosed toll of 18 killed and 824 wounded already represents a substantial human cost for a conflict without congressional authorization.

The deadliest single attack of the war came on its second day, when six US soldiers were killed at Port Shuaiba in Kuwait after being relocated to what officials later acknowledged was a largely unfortified position, surrounded only by six-foot concrete walls, illustrating how force protection gaps have had direct and fatal consequences from the war’s earliest days.

Context and Background

The war began February 28 with coordinated US-Israeli strikes on Iran, and Iranian retaliation against US-linked bases across the Gulf region has continued intermittently throughout the conflict’s various phases, including expanded strikes on Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the UAE during renewed fighting earlier this month.

The Pentagon Inspector General’s report, the first mandatory assessment of its kind delivered to Congress, covers only the period from February 28 through June 30 and explicitly excludes the costs of repairing damaged facilities or replacing destroyed equipment, meaning the war’s cumulative toll, now well past seven months, is likely substantially higher than the reported figures.

CBS News reported earlier in the week on widespread damage to US bases in the region, with the ABC News report building on and extending that earlier reporting through additional imagery and direct testimony from a serving service member willing to speak on the extent of the damage.

Analysis

Military transparency analysts note that the combination of a formal Pentagon Inspector General report confirming hundreds of damaged structures alongside direct, on-the-record testimony from an anonymous service member describing irreparable damage represents an unusually convergent picture from both official and unofficial sources, lending credibility to concerns about the war’s true toll.

Some defense policy observers point to the alleged undercounting of American casualties as particularly significant given the war’s lack of congressional authorization, since accurate casualty reporting has historically served as a critical mechanism through which Congress and the public assess the costs of ongoing military engagements.

Regional security analysts note that the decades-long rebuilding timeline the service member described reflects not just the scale of physical damage but the sustained, continuing nature of the threat, since bases cannot realistically be rebuilt while remaining under regular attack, meaning genuine reconstruction likely cannot begin in earnest until the underlying conflict reaches some resolution.

What Happens Next

Continued congressional scrutiny of both the Pentagon’s damage assessments and casualty reporting is likely, particularly given the tension between official statements and the more alarming accounts emerging from service members and independent reporting. Further Inspector General reports covering subsequent periods of the conflict are expected under mandatory reporting requirements.

The Pentagon’s response to the specific casualty undercounting allegations will be closely watched, given the significance of accurate casualty data to both congressional oversight and public understanding of the war’s true human cost.