MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The U.S. war with Iran has been going on for nearly six months, and Navy leaders are privately admitting to military families they did not think it would last this long. They also say a critical U.S. military hub in the Middle East may never return to normal. Steve Walsh with WHRO Public Media in Norfolk, Virginia, has reviewed tape of an online town hall between Navy officials and military families displaced from a U.S. base in Bahrain. And he's with us now to tell us more about it. Good morning, Steve.
STEVE WALSH, BYLINE: Morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So tell us more about this call.
WALSH: So this happened a few days ago. About 580 people participated in the call. The head of the Navy's Fifth Fleet, Vice Admiral Curt Renshaw, admitted to families that the Navy was, making it up as we go. When the U.S. ordered the evacuation of dependents on March 2, he says the Navy expected that the operation would be over quickly, like the June 2025 campaign where the U.S. and Israeli forces attacked Iran's nuclear facilities. That didn't happen, so now the Navy is scrambling to figure out what to do with 1,300 dependents who left just about everything behind. That's not counting the sailors and civilian workers who were also displaced.
MARTIN: You've been talking to some of these families. What did they tell you?
WALSH: So some people are reluctant to have their voices used on air, but I talked to one spouse who says that she's on her eighth relocation in less than six months. Like many families, they initially went to Europe, and then to various locations around the U.S. We're not using her name because she worries about the impact on her husband's Navy career. He's still in Bahrain.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: I need to take control over my life again and not just be at the whim of the administration. And I need to make plans and, like, move on from this. I don't want to be dragged around. I feel like my spouse is holding up his end of the deal.
WALSH: She also has two small children. School's about to start, and she expects to spend more out of pocket just to stay where she is throughout the school year.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: I'm all alone and in a state that doesn't really have a military presence. No one really gets what's going on or even knows where Bahrain is. The most it's affecting the people around me is occasionally, gas prices go up. It's very lonely and exhausting.
MARTIN: So what are Navy officials telling you?
WALSH: Oh. Right now, not a great deal, at least not directly. But the spouse I talk to, and other family members, believe the Navy waited too long to see if their situation would revert to normal. This week, the State Department will end what's called an order of departure. That changes how the federal government pays the expenses of families displaced from Bahrain. Families are bracing for a cut in benefits. At the virtual town hall, families worried about how much of this unexpected expense will come out of their own pockets, especially young families. The Navy also could not answer questions about what will happen to dependents who don't have visas to stay inside the United States.
Vice Admiral Renshaw also acknowledged to families that part of the problem is outdated regulations. The cap on rental car payments hasn't changed since the 1990s. And one more thing - Bahrain is the main supply hub for the Navy. Carriers and supply ships can't use the base because of its close proximity to Iran. So not having that base functioning is a huge problem for the Navy, which is expected to continue indefinitely its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
MARTIN: That is Steve Walsh of WHRO Public Media. Steve, thank you.
WALSH: Thanks, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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