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From Fox News: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine revealed details of the young skeleton crew who were left to defend Al Udeid Air Base as they faced an incoming barrage of Iranian missiles on Monday.
“We believe that this is the largest single Patriot engagement in U.S. military history,” Caine said, referring to the U.S. surface-to-air missile defense system. “We were joined in this engagement by the Qatar Patriot cruise.”
Caine said the 44 soldiers left on base after it was evacuated ranged in age from 21 to 28. They were left with only two Patriot systems to defend the base, which is a major headquarters in the Middle East and home to 10,000 deployed American soldiers.
Caine celebrated the soldiers, saying they made good decisions under immense pressure.
“Imagine you’re that young first lieutenant. You’re 25 or 26 years old, and you’ve been assigned as the tactical director inside the command and control element. You, at that age, are the sole person responsible to defend this base,” he said.
“There was a lot of metal flying around. And yet our U.S. air defenders had only seconds to make complex decisions with strategic impact.”
“Simply stated, they absolutely crushed it,” he concluded.
WATCH
The information listed is from Fox News.
