Iran war hits close to home for North Carolina families

JUSTIN MOORE | CBS 17

Mia Gonzalez-Swinton embraces the casket holding the body of her husband, Army Sgt. Michael Swinton, upon arrival at Fort Bragg in July. Swinton was killed in Iraq during a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone.

The effects of the Iran war have rapidly spread across the Middle East and its impact close to home.

While President Donald Trump’s appointees promote vigor and valor regarding service members, others are left mourning the fate of their loved ones stationed overseas without a predictable return date.

Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of Fayetteville is one of the casualties. He was killed in Iraq during a controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone the same July weekend that three other service members were killed in Jordan during an Iranian drone attack.

Swinton posthumously received a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge, and will be promoted to staff sergeant.

His wife is still mourning.

“It’s been two months since you were taken from us,” Mia Gonzalez-Swinton of Spring Lake, North Carolina, wrote in a post on Facebook. “63 days without hearing your voice or seeing your face. You were taken from us 19 days after your 30th birthday. Our anniversary is 11 days away. There are so many dates coming up that you were supposed to be here for. So many moments I never imagined having to face without you. I still catch myself wanting to call you, tell you something, send you a picture, or hear what you think.

“I miss being your wife in all the everyday ways. I miss our routines, our conversations, the little things that felt so normal at the time. I would give anything to have one more ordinary day with you. Two months somehow feels like forever and no time at all.” 

Gonzalez-Swinton has been caring for their 4-year-old daughter alone since her husband’s passing.

In addition to the casualties – at least 14 dead, according to the Department of Defense – North Carolinians are feeling the war’s effects seven months after the United States and Israel launched coordinated attacks: gas prices are spiking due to uncertainty regarding the transit of fuel through the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway off the north coast of Iran that’s normally responsible for carrying up to a fifth of the world’s oil transports.

Iran has blocked commercial transit through the sea passage, causing a sharp increase in prices at pump and the need for the Navy’s presence in the region.

Army Sgt. Michael Swinton, 30, of Fayetteville was killed in July in Iraq during a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone.

U.S. Central Command says its focus is blocking Iranian ships from leaving the waterway and aiding other vessels in transiting the waterway. Meanwhile, Iran is firing at commercial ships to exert control over the strait.

“CENTCOM forces have supported more than 1 billion barrels of crude oil leaving the Gulf. That's 1 billion barrels of crude oil out through the Strait of Hormuz in the last couple of months,” CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper said in a statement on Sept. 19. “We’ve reached this significant milestone while assisting over 2,000 commercial ship transits through the Strait by providing coordinated protection.

“Clearly, momentum is building. Primary transit lanes in the Strait are clear of mines. Thousands of ships have passed through the Strait. Over 1 billion barrels of crude have been shipped from Gulf partners through the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran has exported zero barrels thanks to our ironclad blockade.” 

Still, research shows that Americans have spent $100 billion more on fuel this year since the war started according to the Climate Solutions Lab at Brown University. The national average for gasoline sits at $4.47 as of Sept. 21 with North Carolina averages resting at $4.13 according to AAA.

Despite pushback on the legality of the war in Congress, President Donald Trump and military leaders are preparing to escalate attacks as is Iran, which has pulled its regional proxies into the conflict for backup with involvement from the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The war continues to evolve but Trump told voters in Gastonia last week the conflict would soon end with "a really good conclusion" at a campaign rally.

“Hopefully we're towards the end of the war. They want to make a deal, and we'll see how that works out. They're very much wanting to make — Iran is very much wanting to make a deal," Trump told reporters in Charlotte.

On Sunday, Trump told Fox News he is deciding between "wiping Iran out," "letting them rot economically,” or a peace deal.

Parents of U.S. service members say the ambiguity is unnerving.

“The president is a major distraction from the war coming to a close,” Stephanie McKnight, the North Carolina mother of a sailor told The Post.

McKnight said her view on safety teeters under the second Trump presidency but noted she felt “nervous, proud and honored” to watch her son remain deployed aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Gridley.

Sailors support the Navy's 3rd Fleet, 5th Fleet, and 7th Fleet, which cover the Eastern and Central Pacific, the Middle East, Western Pacific and Indian Ocean, respectively. Service members onboard the USS Gridley have aided in blinding and disabling Iranian-manufactured surveillance and attack drones.

“The defense of the Homeland lives on the USS Gridley,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement last month. “Every aspect of this mission has contributed to ensuring the American people can sleep soundly, because there are sailors like those on USS Gridley, like sailors all around the world right now in tough conditions, who do it because they love their nation,” noting the tour was “almost complete” and that sailors had done an “incredible job.

McKnight said her son felt “anxious, excited and timid” over the course of his nine-month deployment.

Sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln were less positive about their experience after 286 days at sea, marking one of the longest post-Cold War carrier deployments in Navy history.

Published reports found some of the 5,000 sailors and Marines onboard were attempting to die by suicide as they ran out of soap, deodorant and toothpaste as well as food shortages and mail delivery disruptions in addition to overflowing toilets as they enforced the naval blockade on Iranian ships attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

Military leaders deny the conditions reported but were ultimately granted permission to return home following the allegations.

USS Lincoln sailors docked at a port in eastern Thailand for five days earlier this month to rest before making a logistics stop in Guam on its return journey to the West Coast.
Service members onboard have been deployed for more than 300 days.

Last month, CENTCOM Commander Admiral Cooper said he visited service members onboard and wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed: “The crew is tired, but they continue to fire on all cylinders. History will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era.” 

In September, he commended service members for remaining engaged.

“The average American doing this important work is in their mid-20s. There are pilots, maintainers, logisticians, culinary specialists, air defenders, intelligence analysts, and members of every other career field that make up America's military, the greatest force on Earth. To all our service members and partners, stay focused and keep up the great work,” Cooper said in a Sept. 19 statement.

Fields reported from Charlotte, Washington, D.C., and Doha, Qatar.

Comments