Service & Sacrifice: US Troops Under Fire

A snapshot of the burdens brave U.S. troops and military families are shouldering around the world.

The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln recently conducts operations against Iran-backed Houthi terrorists in the Middle East.

By Tom Sileo Published on November 15, 2024

Middle East

Terrorists continue to target U.S. military personnel in the Middle East as the Biden administration winds down.

On Monday, Iran-backed Houthi terrorists attacked two U.S. Navy destroyers as they sailed between Yemen and Djibouti. The Pentagon said “the guided missile destroyer USS Stockdale and USS Spruance were attacked by at least eight one-way attack uncrewed aerial systems, five anti-ship ballistic missiles and three anti-ship cruise missiles.”

Thanks to the bravery and brilliance of the crews aboard the respective ships, all the enemy weapons were shot down. There were no reports of damage or injuries.

A few days earlier, the U.S. military launched a series of dramatic strikes on Houthi weapons storage facilities inside Yemen. U.S. Central Command said “these facilities housed a variety of advanced conventional weapons used by the Iran-backed Houthis to target U.S. and international military and civilian vessels navigating international waters in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.”

As seen below, “the operation involved U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy assets to include the F-35C.” Thank you to all the American heroes who participated in these raids.

U.S. Central Command Strikes Houthi Facilities and Weapons Systems

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces executed a series of precise airstrikes on multiple Houthi weapons storage facilities situated within Houthi-controlled territories in Yemen, Nov. 9-10. These facilities… pic.twitter.com/nMkWTvegIr

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) November 13, 2024

In Syria, where about 900 U.S. troops are stationed, the military has come under attack several times in the past week. U.S. Central Command said terrorist groups with ties to Iran are responsible for the assaults, including a rocket attack on Patrol Base Shaddadi. Thankfully, no Americans were injured in that incident.

In response, the U.S. military launched a series of airstrikes in Syria, which were announced on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. Nine terrorist targets were taken out in Syria on Monday, while a weapons facility was hit on Tuesday.

With about 3,400 combined U.S. troops fighting remnants of ISIS in Syria and neighboring Iraq, President-Elect Donald Trump will eventually have to decide whether to keep them there. In the meantime, please keep all these American heroes in your prayers, as well as those under fire from the Houthis in the Middle East.

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Pentagon

Amid a flurry of nominations for Cabinet positions Trump made this week, one stands out for this writer: Pete Hegseth, who is poised to become our nation’s 29th secretary of defense.

Many of you know Pete from Fox News. My path crossed his long before he joined that network. Almost 15 years ago, I was running a blog called The Unknown Soldiers when Pete’s nonprofit organization, Vets for Freedom, offered to provide some funding to help me to continue telling the stories of our troops, veterans, and their families. In short, Pete believed in my work when few others did.

During that timeframe, Pete’s National Guard unit was called up for a deployment to Afghanistan. He had already served in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and was heading to yet another dangerous place despite having a young child at home. We exchanged emails while he was deployed, including this response I received from him on July 25, 2011 when he was in Afghanistan.

Troops are here because they want to be here, and we believe in what we’re doing. Yes, it’s tough. And yes, it’s hard to be away from family. But everyone in Afghanistan today is here as a volunteer. We’re not “tired,” we’re savvy, committed, war-tested, and more experienced than ever. America’s military today is the greatest fighting force the world has ever seen — and the only way we will “break” our military is if we don’t give it the resources it needs to fight and support it needs to win.

I will leave the politics of the Defense Secretary confirmation process to others. All I know for sure is this: I have never encountered anyone who loves our military or cares about veterans more than Pete Hegseth. May God bless him and his family.

Coming Home

The command and crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Stratton returned to California earlier this month after spending several months deployed to the Bering Sea.

The sons of a Coast Guard commander serving aboard the Cutter Stratton welcome their father home to Alameda, California, on November 4, 2024.

Welcome home, heroes! Thank you for your service, and enjoy this special time with your families as the holidays approach.

Tom Sileo is a contributing senior editor of The Stream. He is the author of I Have Your Back, Be Bold and co-author of Three Wise Men, Brothers Forever, 8 Seconds of Courage and Fire in My Eyes. Follow Tom on X @TSileo and The Stream at @Streamdotorg.