Military Families Describe Chaotic March Evacuation From Navy Base in Bahrain

The U.S. Navy evacuated more than 1,250 people from Naval Support Activity Bahrain in March, after Iran began retaliatory strikes on American bases across the Middle East, Navy officials said.

Families who went through it describe a mess. Four active-duty spouses and one civilian employee told MS NOW the process was disorganized and chaotic. All five were granted anonymity because they fear retaliation. Their accounts are unverified by the Navy.

Days under fire

The spouses described weeks of constant phone alerts warning of incoming missiles. They described smoke rising from buildings hit on the base and the boom of interceptors destroying Iranian drones and rockets overhead.

"I was terrified. I laid really close to my kids because I was like at least if we die, we'll die and one person won't be left," one spouse said.

The U.S. bombing of Iran began Feb. 28. In the opening days of the war, Iranian missiles hit the base, which serves as headquarters for the Navy's Fifth Fleet and as a logistics, supply and maintenance hub for American warships in the region.

Moved out before the war

The sharpest allegation concerns timing. Two of the families say their service member spouses were relocated out of Bahrain before the bombing started, leaving wives and children behind.

"They knew something was going on and they literally left us there as sitting ducks," one spouse whose husband left before the war told MS NOW. Another described the husbands as stuck elsewhere, unable to help families in what she called a war zone.

That is one anonymous account, and the Navy has not been quoted explaining why those service members moved when they did. What the military knew before Feb. 28, and when, remains unclear.

Damage and fallout

The cost to the base is documented in a September report to Congress. Bahrain has been the fourth most targeted country in the region for Iranian missile and drone attacks since the war began. In the first days, Iranian fire damaged the command headquarters, two satellite communications terminals, warehouses and about a dozen other buildings. Damage estimates approach $400 million.

The base was cut to "mission critical status." That pushed the Navy to lean harder on its small logistics base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, about 2,200 miles from the Gulf of Oman, to resupply the carrier strike groups fighting the war.

The longer supply line slowed deliveries to ships. Food and supplies were rationed for periods of time, hitting thousands of sailors living and working aboard.

Before the war, the base served 8,300 military personnel, civilian contractors and dependents, according to the Navy. After the evacuations that number reportedly shrank to a fraction of that.

Families still in limbo

The evacuation did not end the trouble for these families. They told MS NOW that, months later, they are living out of hotels and short-term rentals and fear running out of money. MS NOW reporter Priya Sridhar discussed the findings with Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., on the network's Deadline: White House.

The Navy has not publicly laid out what housing or financial support the evacuated families are getting. Evacuating dependents from a base under missile fire is the right call. Leaving them without a plan afterward is a separate failure, and the families say that is where they are.

Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao has acknowledged the severity of the strikes on the base in a recent interview.

Next steps are with Congress and the Navy. Lawmakers already have the September damage report in hand. Whether they press the Navy on why two service members were moved before the war began, and on what is owed to families still in temporary housing, has not been announced.