The Army on Wednesday said it has approved Purple Heart awards for an additional 39 soldiers wounded in an Iranian ballistic missile strike nearly two years ago in western Iraq, a significant victory for troops whose brain injuries were downplayed by their commander in chief at the time, President Donald Trump.
The announcement is official acknowledgment that the attack, a dramatic escalation by Tehran after a U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, was far more serious than Washington was willing to concede initially even though no fatalities occurred.
More than 30 Purple Hearts were awarded previously to U.S. soldiers forced to take cover when 11 missiles — each about 40 feet long and carrying a 1,600-pound warhead — slammed into Ain al-Asad air base on Jan. 8, 2020, an incident that brought the United States and Iran to the brink of war. Commanders pressured the Army to consider others who were hurt, saying approval guidelines were unevenly and unfairly applied.
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Wednesday’s announcement was first reported by the Army Times.
One of the newly approved awards will be given posthumously to Sgt. Jason Quitugua, who took his life in October, said Lt. Col. Gabe Ramirez, an Army spokesman. The others will be presented to a mix of active-duty soldiers, National Guard members and five people who have since left the service.
The Army is evaluating 11 other requests, Ramirez said.
The Purple Heart, in addition to its cultural significance in recognizing those wounded in combat, comes with several benefits from federal and state governments. They include hiring preference for government jobs, upgrades in medical benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs, tuition waivers and free Purple Heart license plates in many states.
Trump responded to the lack of American fatalities by declaring on Twitter that “All is well!” A few days later, he said some of the troops involved had “headaches” but that the situation was “not very serious,” prompting a rebuke from veterans groups who have fought to ensure that the “invisible wounds” of war are properly recognized and treated.
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Jim Moriarty, an attorney representing soldiers, said he was ecstatic upon learning the news. Moriarty, a Vietnam veteran and father of Staff Sgt. James F. Moriarty, a Green Beret killed in Jordan in 2017, was in a Senate staff meeting when text messages from his clients began circulating.
“I cried,” he said. “It means those kids are getting the recognition they so richly deserve.”
Iran launched 15 ballistic missiles in the attack, 11 of which struck the base. The impact left craters up to 30 feet wide. The weapons were unlike any aimed at U.S. troops throughout the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Despite the high-profile attack, soldiers who were injured were divided into haves and have-nots, with service members who were medically evacuated appearing to be fast-tracked for Purple Hearts, Moriarty said. Others who were just as injured or worse but stayed behind to help were overlooked, he said.
Alyssa Farah, a former Pentagon spokeswoman, said in a September podcast that the Trump White House leaned on the Defense Department to downplay the attack. “It kind of was this drip, drip of quote, unquote bad news,” Farah said on One Decision. “That certainly helped folks who were critics of the [Soleimani] strike say that it was a mistake and these are the repercussions of it.”
Survivors of the attack have said they expected “total devastation” at the base when warned of the kind of missiles that were heading their way. Some prayed. Others recorded messages for their families in case they were killed.
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Staff Sgt. Rebecca McMillan, an Army intelligence analyst, said Wednesday that she had seen reports indicating a likely attack that night. She and other soldiers dressed warmly and crammed into a shelter, she recalled. The missiles rained down past midnight, with the closest one obliterating a living quarters 30 yards away.
“You felt it throughout your body. It took my breath away,” she said.
McMillan heard a ringing in her ears and her head felt foggy, as if she were dreaming, she said. Her eyes went blurry. The unit doctor and medic also had been injured in the blast, she said, so her evaluation came a day or two later and she passed a concussion screening. She was later diagnosed with a brain injury.
Nearly two years later, McMillan said, she is dealing with post-traumatic stress, migraines and insomnia linked to the attack, and is in the process of a medical separation from the Army. Wednesday’s news brought satisfaction and relief for those like her who were initially denied the Purple Heart, she said.
“I’m happy they have righted the wrong,” McMillan said. “I’m happy for myself but happier for everybody else.”
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