Arturo Lincón
Role at the time: U.S. Army lieutenant colonel with the Defense Logistics Agency, wounded in the March 1 strike
Response to this claim
Wounded soldiers told the Associated Press that the military's medical system failed them: they say they were not documented as wounded in combat, were sent to barracks instead of being admitted at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, and waited weeks or months for brain-injury diagnosis and care.
“I was just kind of on my own, at least it felt like that”
Associated Press report in which nine wounded service members spoke on the record about their medical care after the March 1 strike. It reports that the Army and the Pentagon declined to comment on the AP's reporting, quotes a Pentagon statement that wounded troops are evaluated and may be admitted based on severity according to physicians who follow "healthcare-industry practices," and quotes a Pentagon official on Landstuhl's mission.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
The reference point is whether the military failed the soldiers at Port Shuaiba in protecting them or in caring for the wounded. Lincón's quoted words criticize his care: he says he was on his own after the Army sent him to barracks rather than admitting him at Landstuhl. In a separate report the AP paraphrases him giving reasons the port suited the unit, but those are not his quoted words and do not change his stated view of his care. The closest competing label is Mixed or conditional; it loses because the quoted statement attaches no condition and voices no support for how he was treated. Evidence: a direct quotation in an Associated Press report.