Gen. Caine Reveals Bravery of 44 Soldiers Left Behind to Defend Key Middle East Base During Iran Missile Strikes
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine highlighted on Thursday the bravery of 44 unsung U.S. Army heroes who successfully helped counter an Iranian missile attack against the American Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
The Monday missile strike by Tehran was retaliation for the U.S. targeting the Islamic regime’s Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites over the weekend for destruction.
Caine noted that in anticipation of a counterstrike by Iran, the normally 10,000-strong U.S. military base, with more than 100 aircraft, had assumed a minimum force posture.
Most personnel were removed from the anticipated target location at Al Udeid, “except for a very few Army soldiers.”
“Only two Patriot batteries remained on base, roughly 44 American soldiers responsible for defending the entire base to include CENTCOM’s forward headquarters in the Middle East, an entire air base, and all the U.S. forces there,” Caine said.
General Dan ‘RAZIN’ Caine told the story of the BRAVE 44 AMERICAN WARFIGHTERS who DEFENDED the entire Al Udeid Air Base from a missile attack.
These are REAL AMERICAN HEROES. pic.twitter.com/YmK0vTzGB8
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) June 26, 2025
The 44 soldiers left behind ranged in age from 21 to 28, he noted. The 28-year-old was an Army captain, the highest-ranking person on hand.
Caine then zeroed in on the individual Patriot battery level.
“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.
“You know that you’re going to have approximately 2 minutes, 120 seconds to either succeed or fail” once the attack begins, the general added.
Iran’s missiles flew inbound shortly after sunset Monday night.
Footage captures the launch of PATRIOT interceptors in Qatar, engaging incoming Iranian ballistic missiles targeting Al Udeid Air Base. pic.twitter.com/AOvcTRTpu0
— GMI (@Global_Mil_Info) June 23, 2025
“We believe that this is the largest single Patriot engagement in U.S. military history,” the general said. “We were joined in this engagement by the Qatari Patriot crews.”
“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,” he added.
“These awesome humans, along with their Qatari brothers and sisters in arms stood between a salvo of Iranian missiles and the safety of Al Udeid. They are the unsung heroes of the 21st-century United States Army,” Caine said.
He concluded, “Simply stated, they absolutely crushed it.”
Axios reported that the Qataris stated that one of Iran’s 14 missiles fired at Al Udeid made it through the combined air defenses, hitting one building, but causing no casualties.
Iran had given Qatar advanced notice that a strike would be coming Monday night in an apparent attempt to make it a symbolic counterattack, but not escalate the fighting with the U.S.
.@POTUS delivers remarks to troops at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar: “I’m thrilled to be here with the men and women who embody American strength and pride, the warriors of the United States Armed Forces! … You are without a doubt the greatest fighting force in the history of the… pic.twitter.com/cKACWTOWGN
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 15, 2025
Trump visited Al Udeid Air Base last month during a three-nation swing through the Middle East.
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