Via Stars and Stripes: Pentagon raises official death toll from Iran war to 23

The Pentagon has revised the number of U.S. troops who have died during operations related to the war against Iran to 23.

That total in the Pentagon’s reporting database, the Defense Casualty Analysis System, includes additional noncombat deaths recorded in updates Wednesday and Thursday.

The latest deaths were airmen. The Air Force did not provide any additional details.

Additionally, 865 American service members have been wounded.

First and foremost, there is the tragedy of unnecessary deaths in a pointless war of choice that we are losing. Americans are losing their lives or being injured because Trump started a war that he didn’t know how to end, and so we are stuck in a weird, hellish limbo.

Beyond the obviously awful loss of life is the fact that all of this feels like a distant footnote that no one is bothering to consult. It is just happening “over there.” The general lack of transparency (such as exactly how much damage US bases and our allies have taken) is stunning. I would contrast all of this with coverage of both Gulf Wars, which were actively facilitated by the US government. But this administration sees no need to keep us informed. Out of sight, out of mind, dontcha know.

Meanwhile, the NYT has a piece that further underscores the way this administration cares about the troops: A Sailor Jumped From the U.S.S. Lincoln. The Navy Punished Him.

Nicholas McKelvey had been aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln for 255 grueling days.

As the war with Iran raged, the 19-year-old Navy airman — an aviation mechanic in a helicopter squadron — was working 12-hour shifts in the blazing sun, checking and guiding helicopters on the flight deck. He had missed the birth of his daughter. His in-laws were battling cancer. Food on the aircraft carrier was in short supply.

Then he reached his breaking point.

At about 10 a.m. on a Monday in early August, he sprinted along the flight deck then leaped from the ship’s edge and plunged 67 feet into the Arabian Sea, according to Navy records reviewed by The New York Times. He was rescued by a helicopter crew and returned to the ship 50 minutes later.

“I didn’t want to be there anymore,” Mr. McKelvey said in an interview, speaking publicly for the first time. “If I was going to die because of it, then that’s just how it is.”

On Thursday, the Navy effectively fired him — moving to discharge Mr. McKelvey after accusing him of “malingering,” or faking a mental health crisis to end his deployment, according to Mr. McKelvey’s wife, Samantha Larry. Under the terms of his removal — a general discharge under honorable conditions — he will become ineligible for education assistance under the G.I. Bill, cutting off a pathway to college that his family was counting on, Ms. Larry said.

I am no expert on such matters, and perhaps someone who has served in the military will have a different view of all of this, but this reaction strikes me as cruel, punitive, and unnecessary.

Several former military lawyers and other experts interviewed by The Times agreed that Mr. McKelvey’s case presented complicated issues for the Navy. Some said the disciplinary response was legally justified and relatively lenient because malingering is sometimes treated as a criminal offense.

Others questioned whether the Navy’s response adequately addressed the distress that may have driven him to jump. The Navy, they said, could have focused on treating him, or seeking a medical discharge that would allow him to retain key benefits, rather than accusing him of wrongdoing.

“You’re going to have commanders that are willing to punish people who undertake action that risks their own lives in a moment of extreme mental trauma,” said Rachel VanLandingham, a former Air Force lawyer and a professor at Southwestern Law School. “But there’s so much more underneath it, and fundamentally you don’t need to punish it. You need to treat it.”

We know that the Lincoln had a record deployment and that its circumstances were, again, the result of poor planning and a lack of basic understanding of how things work by Trump and his cronies.

We also know that McKelvey was not the only member of the crew who was driven to extreme action.

There were eight suicide attempts during the long deployment among sailors in the Lincoln strike group, according to a letter the Navy sent to lawmakers last month. The letter did not name Mr. McKelvey, but the description of a sailor who “went overboard from the ship” matches his story.

But, you know, ignore all of that! The SecDef (aka WAR!) is making sure there are no beardos or weirdos in the military and that the folks at the upper levels of the Pentagon aren’t icky DEI hires or gross girls.