An unmitigated disaster: Troops express fears as Trump expands war on Iran

As the US-Israel war against Iran enters its fourth week and President Donald Trump orders the deployment of thousands of additional sailors and Marines to the Middle East, its existing troops appear increasingly wary of the conflict.

Interviews with active-duty soldiers, reservists and advocacy groups focused on service members found that some U.S. troops who are caught up in war report vulnerability, overwhelming stress, frustration and disillusionment to the extent that they may leave the military. The reservists and active-duty soldiers spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation or because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

A military official who is caring for service members evacuated from the Middle East to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany amid retaliation from Iran said troops are suffering from “inadequate protection and force planning” and are already reporting a severe and destabilizing toll from Iranian ballistic missiles and drones that have been repeatedly attacking U.S. military facilities. So far, thirteen soldiers have died in the midst of the war, seven due to attacks and at least 232 They have been injured.

A ground operation would be “an absolute disaster…we don’t have a plan for that,” the official said earlier this week. “We can’t even fully defend a single land base in the theater of operations.”

A veteran and reservist who mentors younger officers told News themezone that her contacts are expressing a loss of faith to a new degree.

“I hear from service members the words: ‘We don’t want to die for Israel, we don’t want to be political pawns,’ he said. Another reservist in contact with current troops separately reported hearing similar comments.

“I’ve shared information about conscientious objectors six times in the last two weeks and I’ve been in the military almost 20 years; I’ve never had people reach out like this,” the first reservist continued.

Illustration: Kelly Caminero/News themezone; Photo: Getty Images

Mike Prysner, executive director of the Center on Consciousness and War, said in recent years his group heard from 50 to 80 soldiers annually. The month of March saw a 1,000% increase, he added, saying at least one new service member now contacts the organization daily. On Friday, the wrote in X that his group is handling “expedited” objector requests from Army, Navy and Marine Corps personnel who were told they would deploy this weekend.

And Matt Howard, co-director of the group About Face: Veterans Against The War, said his organization has been helping more active-duty troops understand their options for dissent.

“People have more options than they think. The military makes it seem like there is only one route, through their contract, and that otherwise the consequences are devastating,” Howard said. “People have the right to choices, including conscientious objector status. My understanding is that more and more people are going down that particular path. We definitely find ourselves having more of those conversations than we have in a long time.”

There is no sign of a mass exodus of the 1.3 million-strong US military because of the Trump campaign. Sources described anger, but also a sense of resignation among many troops.

Many service members have long anticipated and prepared for a U.S. war against Iran, and some senior personnel see it as justified given the country’s role in deadly attacks on U.S. troops, particularly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. But dissatisfaction and morale problems could make Trump’s campaign less likely to succeed, and hint at a lasting shift among troops that could have implications for the U.S. national security system.

The lack of a clear and consistent narrative justifying the Iran war is a key source of discontent among troops, reservists said, demoralizing those who believe a poorly planned conflict is putting them in unnecessary danger without any identifiable strategic benefit.

Iran’s retaliation has hit wealthy Persian Gulf countries that host U.S. forces and have largely been spared large-scale conflict for decades, unlike their regional neighbors, which include Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Until last month, deployments to the Gulf States were considered low risk and, according to former Army Maj. Harrison Mann, almost ridiculous.

“You can’t imagine this becoming a war zone,” Mann, now at Win Without War, told News themezone.

Since those facilities began facing fires, military commanders have struggled to address troops’ increased sense of exposure, the service member said, noting troubling patterns among some personnel, such as refusing to answer calls to go to a bunker amid attacks.

Troops now seeking to leave the area are reporting different concerns than those who tried to do so in the recent past, even as tensions rose in the region, the service member added: “Taking random indirect fire is not the same as seeing your entire gym and cafeteria and some dorm rooms blown up from a door less than 50 yards away.”

Broader concerns about American strategy also appear to be affecting troops.

Most service members now exploring registering as conscientious objectors point to the Feb. 28 attack on a school in the Iranian city of Minab as a breaking point, Prysner said. The attack killed at least 175 people, including dozens of schoolchildren. Sources familiar with the Pentagon’s investigation into the horrific incident told News themezone that the United States is likely responsible.

Furthermore, concerns about Iran’s military service and campaign appear to reflect changing attitudes about the United States’ role in the Middle East, particularly in relation to Israel. Troops are expressing reservations about participating in a US-Israeli operation based on their observation of the devastation wrought by the US-backed Israeli offensive in Gaza since 2023, and younger Americans, central to the military, have become much more skeptical of Tel Aviv. An NBC news survey This month it found that 63% of voters under 34 now view Israel negatively, up from 37% in 2023.

Meanwhile, many veterans warn publicly and privately that Washington appears to be on the brink of a costly quagmire similar to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. One reservist noted that such representation may reach younger troops more easily now than when service members were deployed for those campaigns 20 years ago, given more honest discussions about the failures in those wars and the spread of social media.

Even before the recent tumult, the Trump administration’s broader handling of troops and the Defense Department has also raised alarm among military personnel.

“It’s not just about Iran. Before this, there have been National Guard deployments [in American cities]the possibility of being used against their own neighbors and collaborating with ICE,” Howard said. “This moment is very destabilizing because of the way the military is essentially being used as a plaything for the administration to advance an authoritarian agenda.”

Experts in civil-military relations and the law of war have condemned those deployments, as well as apparent violations of international law in ongoing U.S. military attacks on suspected drug trafficking ships in the Caribbean and Pacific.

A reservist in regular contact with service members highlighted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s crackdown on efforts to promote diversity in the military and moves cancel military partnerships with think tanks and universities: “I get the impression that he doesn’t want us to learn or be smart; he just wants us to fight.”

“We are seeing the direction of this,” the second reservist said, noting that Trump, despite his election campaign of avoiding wars, had now shown a willingness to act forcefully against Iran, Venezuela and potentially Cuba. “If this doesn’t align with your intent or career goals, I would leave.”