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Fourteen weeks after President Donald Trump ordered an attack on Iran, the U.S. military is adjusting to an unusual state of conflict that is not full-scale war, but also far from peace.
On ships and bases in the Middle East, U.S. troops — some recovering from injuries — operate amid exchanges of fire with Iran every few days as the Navy blockades Iran’s ports. At home, the Pentagon is scrambling to bolster production of depleted munitions as families of service members cope with the stress of extended deployments.
Counterattacks from Iran continue against U.S. allies in the region, such as Bahrain and Kuwait, which Iran targeted in a ballistic missile attack on Friday.
Trump declared his ceasefire with Iran in April, but the war has settled into a stalemate, with Iran keeping the Strait of Hormuz largely closed to shipping and Trump threatening a return to full-scale bombings of Iran if peace negotiations fail.
The threat requires U.S. troops to maintain an acute state of readiness.
That means everything from stocking bases with missiles and interceptors to scouring intelligence from drones and satellites to update lists of targets inside Iran should large-scale fighting resume.
“To maintain this constant state of ‘Level 10’ alert vigilance, to be ready to go at the drop of a hat, is a very stressful and difficult operational mission,” said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Joseph Votel, the former commander of the U.S. military’s Central Command, described the current conflict phase as “a very, very dangerous period for us.” He said keeping troops ready during the ceasefire is no small challenge.
“It puts on a lot of pressure on leaders to make sure that people are still at their edge,” Votel said.
Asked for comment, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the U.S. military stands ready to support deployed troops “in every way imaginable.”
“The Department of War is proud of our incredible troops. Their courage, readiness, grit, and unmatched professionalism are why they are the greatest fighting force in human history,” Parnell said.
TOLL ON TROOPS AND FAMILIES
For U.S. troops recovering from injuries, the military’s shift to an extended wartime footing requires a profound adjustment.
U.S. Army Reserve Sergeant First Class Cory Hicks, 37, is among the wounded recovering from an Iranian drone attack at the start of the war that left him without a pulse for minutes.
Punctured by shrapnel that severed an artery and fractured his jaw, Hicks is also wrestling with the impact of a traumatic brain injury from the blast that could challenge him for life.
“It sounded like a small prop plane coming in quick,” Hicks told Reuters. “And then it just smashed into the building and blew up. And I remember a big bright ball of flames and lots of pressure and heat, and I was out.”
Hicks is not the only one adapting to a new normal. Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, where he is being treated, is coping with a new surge in combat care cases years after the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, Hicks said.
Around 400 U.S. troops have been wounded during the conflict, many of them with a traumatic brain injury like Hicks. Over 90% have returned to duty, the U.S. military says. Thirteen service members have been killed in the conflict.
Families of U.S. service members also confront stress amid confusion about what is happening during the ceasefire.
Iranian state media publishes claims regularly about attacking U.S. ships and aircraft. On Friday, Iran said it fired warning shots at U.S. warships in the Gulf of Oman, an event the U.S. military denies happened.
“It’s just really scary not to know details of what exactly is going on,” said Yadira Dessaint, mother of a sergeant in the Army Reserve from California’s San Fernando Valley.
Dessaint asked not to identify her son for fear of retaliation by the U.S. military. She has protested for an end to the war, which has damaged Trump’s popularity.
Just one in four respondents in a May Reuters/Ipsos poll said the U.S. military action in Iran has been worth it.
Dessaint said her son has seen multiple attacks on his position by Iranian drones, their debris falling around him after being intercepted by air defenses.
“I tend to send a text every day: ‘Good morning, son. I love you,’” Dessaint said. “Every so often, I get ‘I love you mom’ or ‘I miss you’ or something.”
PERSISTENT THREAT
As the United States and Iran negotiate a potential deal to open the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil transited before the war, it looks increasingly likely that any agreement would extend the ceasefire while delaying some of the thorniest issues, such as Tehran’s nuclear program.
That suggests the tense standoff and the demands on the U.S. military will continue.
The signs of strain on military operations are visible in the huge expenditure of munitions for the war. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said it could take years to fully replenish U.S. inventories of missiles and interceptors.
Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., said it is not just inventories that are eroding.
“Wars are expensive. They grind on the equipment and the people, as well as the missiles that are shot,” Karako said.
Back in Maryland, Hicks stays in touch with fellow U.S. soldiers in the Middle East, some frustrated by deployments that are being extended as the conflict drags on.
“They’re doing a lot better now than they were. The threat is not as bad,” he said, referring to the reduced scale of fighting.
But Hicks carries the memory of six fellow soldiers who died in the Kuwait attack that injured him, including Sergeant First Class Nicole Amor, 39.
“I was talking to Sergeant Amor when the drone hit. She was maybe 10 feet away from me,” he said. “It’s something that I’m going to have to deal with the rest of my life.”