New videos show Iran hit Camp Buehring hard with missiles and jets, forcing U.S. troops to abandon the Kuwait base in a retreat few Americans heard about.
CBS News obtained exclusive footage recorded by a person stationed on the ground that captures the impacts and explosive aftermath at the major American post about 25 miles from the Iraqi border.
Damage to buildings and military equipment is visible in the authenticated videos. American forces there faced ballistic missiles, drones, and what witnesses described as Iranian F-5 fighter jets as the war with Iran kicked off seven months ago.
A tranche of more than 100 soldiers stayed behind after most of the roughly 7,000 troops at Camp Buehring moved elsewhere under the Pentagon’s plan to get personnel out of range. Those who remained eventually packed up and drove at night into remote desert positions.
The public saw little of what those service members endured. One source who spoke on condition of anonymity because of strict military media rules made the cost plain.
"They hit us bad. It was horrible. There were a lot of brave guys who stayed to fight there, and people at home don't know what happened. We had to abandon the base."
The same source added that the post known as CBKU “got demolished” and called for an investigation into why reinforcements never arrived.
Three U.S. service members described Iranian F-5 fighter jets used in the attacks, a detail NBC News first reported in April. One eyewitness painted the scene in stark terms.
"They ran so close to us I could see their helmets. They came in, they hit us, and then took off."
Missiles and drones forced soldiers into bunkers. Defenders ran critically low on.50-caliber ammunition while concerns also grew over other high-end munitions such as Patriot batteries, according to a senior Army official working logistics from another post in Kuwait.
No one was killed by enemy fire at Camp Buehring or the forward operating bases that followed. Several troops were injured. In late April, two soldiers suffered lightning injuries in sandstorms in the Udari Desert, one with burns from a direct strike, another with a ruptured eardrum, after Army leaders had already tried to move them out of the area but could not do so fast enough.
In May the soldiers left those desert FOBs for Camp Arifjan and then relocated to other positions in and out of the Middle East. The decision to leave the original base came after the ammo strain and sustained Iranian fire.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed the broader repositioning on March 4 as the Pentagon built up offensive combat power. He described the defensive steps taken across the region.
"As we built up offensive combat power, we moved the vast majority of American troops, over 90% of Americans that were on our bases, what we say off the X, out of the range of Iranian fire."
U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military operations across the Middle East, declined to comment on the new videos. The Pentagon pointed back to Hegseth’s March remarks and offered no further statement.
That early movement of forces reflected a clear priority: keep the bulk of American personnel out of easy Iranian reach while the United States prepared to strike back. The remaining contingent at Camp Buehring still absorbed the opening blows and later left the site entirely.
The wider war has carried a steep material price, a reality that tracks with other flashpoints in the long confrontation with Tehran, including moments when Trump pinned an overseas attack on Iran while intelligence assessments continued.
A Defense Department inspector general report released last month put equipment losses from the war with Iran at up to $3.7 billion, including nearly 60 aircraft. U.S. Central Command had already reported Iranian strikes on American bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan.
On Monday the Congressional Research Service reported that 81 fixed or rotary-wing aircraft, including drone assets, had been lost or damaged by Iran since February, drawing on news reports and Defense Department statements.
CBS earlier obtained exclusive photos of damage at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait and at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. The deadliest single attack on U.S. troops in the war struck the Port of Shuaiba and killed six American service members.
Those figures underscore how Iran chose to test American positions across the Gulf. They also show why preemptive repositioning mattered even as some units still had to hold ground, fight with dwindling stocks, and ultimately withdraw under pressure.
Ongoing friction with the regime has produced repeated diplomatic and military turns, from expulsions of Iranian envoys after stalled talks to public signals about possible further strikes.
Camp Buehring had served for more than two decades as a major staging ground for American forces deploying across the Middle East. When the missiles and jets arrived, a smaller force stayed to defend it while the larger footprint shifted to safer ground.
They faced a coordinated assault, watched buildings and gear take hits, burned through critical ammunition, and finally left under cover of night for austere desert sites. Later they moved again. Their account is only now reaching a wider audience through the newly released videos and firsthand descriptions.
The same pattern of Iranian aggression has shaped other recent decisions in Washington, including when Trump rejected an Iran ceasefire proposal amid heightened Strait tensions.
Service members who lived through the strikes at Camp Buehring asked a basic question: why did no one reinforce them once the base was under sustained attack? The videos and their testimony now put that question in front of the country.
Iran’s choice to strike American positions produced real damage, real injuries, and a forced abandonment of a longtime hub. It also produced a record of troops who stayed, fought, and later moved when the ammunition and the tactical picture demanded it.
That record belongs in full view, especially while the broader contest with Tehran continues to demand clear-eyed resolve rather than amnesia about what the opening days already cost.
American forces met Iranian fire, protected what they could, and repositioned when necessary, proof that strength and prudence still beat wishful thinking every time.
