American Soldiers Claim Pete Hegseth Downplayed Severity of Iran War Wounds

AP Photo/Omar Havana

On Wednesday, CBS News reported that two American soldiers wounded in the Iran war say the Pentagon minimized the severity of their injuries, despite suffering shrapnel wounds, traumatic brain injuries, hearing and vision loss, and requiring months of recovery.

As noted in the report, in March, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that “almost 90%” of the roughly 400 American service members wounded during the conflict with Iran suffered only minor injuries and had already returned to duty. Two of those soldiers and their families are now disputing that characterization, telling CBS News their injuries were far more severe than the military’s public descriptions suggested.

Among them is Chief Warrant Officer Rodney Bearman, who was wounded on March 1 when an Iranian drone struck his workstation at Port of Shuaiba in Kuwait. According to CBS News, medical records show Bearman suffered shrapnel wounds, a concussion, hearing and vision loss, and lung damage. Despite those injuries, the Army classified him as “not seriously injured.”

“That assessment is unacceptable,” his wife, Amy Bearman, told the outlet.

Another survivor of the same attack, Sergeant First Class Cory Hicks, told CBS News that Army officials similarly minimized his condition after he suffered extensive shrapnel wounds requiring multiple emergency surgeries.

“They said your husband was injured, he has a minor jaw injury, and he’s going to be returned to duty,” Hicks said his wife was told. Asked whether he believed military leaders attempted to soften the reality of the attack, Hicks responded, “Absolutely.”

The Army rejected those allegations in a statement to CBS News.

“The care and well-being of our Soldiers is of the highest priority,” an Army spokesperson said. “Any assertion that the Army seeks to downplay a soldier’s injuries is simply not true.”

CBS noted that Hicks remains at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center nearly four months after the attack, where he is recovering from what he described as a “pretty severe” traumatic brain injury. Bearman, meanwhile, was later assigned to a soldier recovery unit closer to his family, where he continues to receive treatment.

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