Military families were told Wednesday it is too dangerous to return to the Navy’s largest base in the Middle East after they were evacuated from Bahrain in March following Iranian airstrikes, according to exclusive audio of a town hall with military families reviewed by MS NOW.
“It is very, very violent” in the region, a Navy leader said in a tense virtual meeting with more than 200 servicemembers, spouses, and civilians who had worked on the base.
Ships around the Strait of Hormuz are still being hit by drones and missiles and retrieving any of the things they left behind there will take months, Navy officials said, according to a recording of a virtual town hall with military families reviewed by MS NOW.
The families and service members were also told that the financial and logistical government support they were receiving from the Department of Defense because of the evacuation will lapse on Nov. 30.
The Navy leaders said they had requested that funding be extended, since so many military families have been living without their belongings and in temporary housing since their rapid departure from Bahrain in March, but a blanket extension covering all families has been denied by senior leaders at the Pentagon.
Navy leaders acknowledged that most of the evacuees have not received their personal belongings from their homes in Bahrain after they were ordered to quickly evacuate when Iranian missiles blew up several buildings on Naval Support Activity Bahrain, the Navy’s largest base in the Middle East. The attacks caused around $400 million worth of damage, according to a recent report to Congress.
Capt. Matthew A. Smidt, chief of staff for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, or NAVCENT, told families and service members that the current danger around Bahrain is ongoing.
“There is violence every day right now in the region and the Strait of Hormuz. Another three ships got hit by missiles or drones last night. There are people dying every day or being wounded every day in the Strait of Hormuz and the surrounding areas,” Smidt said. “It is very, very violent. It is very, very dynamic still.”
Many family members told MS NOW that since the evacuation, they have moved between continents after being ordered back to the United States by June. Most have been living in short-term furnished rentals or hotels. Now they are being told to find permanent housing by Dec. 1.
Smidt emphasized that the conditions on the ground were too dangerous for the families to return to the base in Bahrain. And that was unlikely to change.
“If and when it kicks off again, I can guarantee you that the Iranians are not going to show the same level of restraint that they did in the spring, just take that for what its worth,” Smidt told the evacuees, many of whom had spent days after the first American airstrikes were launched on Iran, hunkering down in their homes with their children trying to stay safe during constant alerts on their phones of incoming missiles and hearing interceptors explode overhead.
Navy officials in the town hall said they had lobbied the Department of Defense to issue a blanket “exception to policy” that would have extended the financial and logistical support known as safe haven entitlements for all evacuees. But Pentagon leaders decided that each evacuee would have to request an extension individually and that each request would require approval from the office of Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao.
“We realize that there’s a lot of miscommunication between us and D.C.,” Smidt said. “We were originally pushing for just a blanket ETP, but we’re going to have to do it on an individual basis. So that is something different. That is something different than what we’ve heard in the past.”
It was unclear through the town hall how long it would take for requests to be processed and whether payments would continue while the request was pending. MS NOW reached out to the secretary of the Navy’s office for clarification but did not hear back.
Navy leaders also said every evacuee has to schedule a service in Bahrain to pack up their belongings for them by Nov. 30, but noted that it will take anywhere from four to six months for those belongings to reach their final destination.
In the town hall, Navy leaders said 21% of military evacuee households have scheduled a “packout,” but according to the five evacuees MS NOW spoke to, they are not aware of any of those shipments actually moving yet.
The money the evacuees were receiving has already shrunk. NAVCENT’s top personnel officer told families that an Aug. 27 Pentagon memo had reduced their safe haven payments to 75% of the full rate through Nov. 30.
Evacuees told MS NOW that they have drained their financial savings over the past year, spending tens of thousands of dollars purchasing vehicles to transport their children, furniture and other essential items.
Participants in the town hall were not allowed to speak and instead had to submit questions through the virtual meeting’s chat box or through a form that had been distributed in advance of the call.
A Navy leader read a submitted question that asked about how families were supposed to survive if they were required to sign a long-term lease on permanent housing without their personal belongings and any more financial support.
“This puts families in a very difficult situation because they are expected to find a place to live without having their belongings, sometimes forcing them to spend their savings or getting in more debt just to have somewhere to sleep and live,” the question read.
John Hazlett, director of manpower and personnel for NAVCENT, said Navy leaders had asked the Pentagon to continue payments until families received their household goods. The Pentagon refused. Now, families will have to cover the gap themselves. Payments now stop as soon as a family signs a lease, even if their belongings are months away from arriving, Hazlett said.
“We realize it’s not convenient, it’s not easy. I’m living this same nightmare that a lot of you on this call are as well and so we are also out of pocket on many of these things and waiting on household goods doesn’t make it any easier,” Hazlett said.
In a statement to MS NOW, a Navy official said, “We appreciate the continued resilience from our NSA Bahrain community throughout this transition, and we are fully committed to keeping our families connected, informed, and supported as long as they need us.”
The official went on to say that families are eligible for a variety of allowances as they move from temporary to long-term housing, depending on whether the employee is active duty or a civilian.
The official said case managers are available to families to help them navigate logistics and answer questions since “no two family situations are alike” and will remain engaged with families until all of their needs are met.
In addition, the Navy official said there are Fleet and Family Support Centers that offer both in-person and virtual services such as counseling, financial guidance and relocation support. The official said communication is a priority and that the Navy is holding monthly town halls for families.
“Since this story broke, I’ve heard from multiple families who are scared, confused and angry about [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth’s betrayal and broken promises,” said Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., a former Army intelligence officer who serves on the House Armed Services Committee.
“After being evacuated from Bahrain on a moment’s notice, and at great personal financial burden, they are now being told there isn’t enough funding to help them,” Ryan said.
The Department of Defense budget is nearly $1 trillion, Ryan said. “To look these families in the eye and say the funding is going to run out and they won’t be made whole is shameful,” Ryan said.
The post ‘Violence every day’: Navy warns families evacuated from Bahrain base region remains dangerous appeared first on MS NOW.
Login
