Video obtained exclusively by CBS News documents Iranian ballistic missile, drone and fighter jet attacks on Camp Buehring, a major U.S. military installation in Kuwait, during the opening days of a war with Iran seven months ago. The footage, recorded by someone stationed at the base, captures explosions and damage to buildings and equipment that until now had gone largely undocumented in public view.
What the footage shows
The recordings, authenticated by CBS News through embedded metadata and cross-referenced against other photographs of the base, show the moment of impact and its aftermath at Camp Buehring, known as CBKU, a facility roughly 25 miles from the Iraqi border that has served as a staging ground for American forces for more than two decades. Witnesses described not only missiles and drones but also Iranian F-5 fighter jets flying close enough that one eyewitness said he could see the pilots' helmets.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations across the Middle East, declined to comment when contacted. The Pentagon did not comment directly but referred back to remarks from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who told reporters in March that more than 90% of American troops at regional bases had been repositioned "off the X" - military language for moving personnel out of the range of expected fire - as offensive combat power was built up elsewhere.
Strain on the forces left behind
Not everyone left. More than 100 soldiers remained at Camp Buehring even as the bulk of the roughly 7,000 troops previously stationed there were moved out ahead of the war. Those who stayed described running critically low on .50-caliber ammunition during the attacks, according to sources who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity because of military media restrictions. A senior Army logistics official confirmed concerns at the time about the availability of .50-caliber rounds and other specialized munitions, including Patriot missile interceptors.
Eventually, the remaining soldiers packed what equipment they could and drove at night into the Udari Desert, establishing forward operating bases in isolated terrain. No one was killed by enemy fire at Camp Buehring or the makeshift desert positions, but the environment brought its own dangers - two soldiers were injured by lightning during sandstorms in late April, one suffering burns and another a ruptured eardrum. Army leadership had reportedly been trying to relocate those troops before the storm struck but could not move quickly enough. By May, the soldiers had left for Camp Arifjan and were subsequently redistributed to other posts.
A broader pattern across the region
Camp Buehring is not an isolated case. The Pentagon's inspector general reported last month that the conflict produced equipment losses worth up to $3.7 billion, including nearly 60 aircraft, in the first mandatory report of its kind delivered to Congress. The Congressional Research Service has since put the figure at 81 fixed or rotary-wing aircraft, including drone assets, lost or damaged since February. The inspector general's report also confirmed Iranian strikes hit U.S. bases across Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan - though visual documentation of the damage has remained scarce. CBS News has previously obtained photos showing damage at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia and at Camp Arifjan, and has reported separately on the attack at the Port of Shuaiba, which killed six American service members and stands as the deadliest strike on U.S. troops during the war.
Why the gap in public information matters
The scarcity of footage and the limited official comment surrounding these strikes point to a wider accountability question facing the Pentagon: how much the public and Congress actually know about the condition of forward bases during active combat. Soldiers who spoke to CBS News say they want a formal investigation into why reinforcements never arrived at Camp Buehring as the attacks intensified. With equipment losses already running into billions of dollars and aircraft counts still being tallied by independent analysts, the degree of transparency applied to this conflict's human and material toll is likely to remain under scrutiny from lawmakers and the press alike.