Tim Halbur is a U.S. Army Reserve lieutenant colonel from Ankeny, Iowa, who has served for nearly 30 years, according to the Associated Press.
Case
Soldiers wounded in the March 1 Iranian drone strike at Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, say they lacked drone defenses and faced delayed care. Hegseth called the drone a "squirter" that hit a fortified site, and the Army has not released its investigation.
Role at the time: U.S. Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, wounded in the March 1 strike
Response to this claim
Officers told the Associated Press that the generals who moved the unit to Port Shuaiba knew it lacked defenses against drones, and that intelligence officers had warned them it was a likely secondary target for Iran.
“Obviously, somewhere at the two-star, three-star level, they knew the intelligence reports”
The reference point is whether the military failed the soldiers at Port Shuaiba in protecting them or in caring for the wounded. Halbur says senior commanders knew the intelligence reports while the soldiers were told they would be fine, which criticizes the decision to station them there. The closest competing label is Mixed or conditional, because he called his own surgery at Walter Reed "excellent"; that praise covers his own treatment after evacuation, and he also told the AP that visiting Army leaders called the Port Shuaiba soldiers "the guinea pigs" for the medical system, so he does not defend the protection or care at issue. Evidence: direct quotations in an Associated Press report.
Statement dates: October 5, 2026
Statement dates: October 5, 2026
