The Iranian attack on US military bases in Iraq on 8 January followed an American drone strike that killed top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani. Before the attack, Iranian officials had said Tehran would retaliate against US forces for Soleimani's killing.
The US Department of Defence on Tuesday released a 36-page dossier of firsthand accounts from the airmen who were present during the “retaliatory” missile strike by Iran on 8 January.
The document includes stories from soldiers who were at the US bases of Ayn al-Asad, Erbil, Camp Taji, and Al Taqaddum in Iraq during the attack.
The officers there had to quickly compile lists of their personnel divided into two groups: those who should be evacuated and those who would remain to maintain operations, according to the new DoD report.
‘Phoenixes Rise From The Ashes'
Lt. Col. Staci Coleman, commander of the Al Asad base, advised her flight commanders to pick those to stay on the base according to their emotional state and combat abilities.
For quite a long time, those evacuated did not know if the personnel chosen to stay behind had survived the attack. Captain Adella Ramos was one of the people chosen to stay at the base without knowing whether she would live through the night.
Major Jonathan Jordan, Ayn al-Asad's Director of Operations, was to lead the evacuation of the other half of the team. He shared different emotions in his story, from shame at having to be relieved to guilt and anxiety….
