Category: Military

5:40 pm PDT Hey everybody, we’re wrapping up our live blog, as we’ve been blogging since 8:15 this morning.

Chula Vista

5:29 pm PDT Byron Morton sent a batch of shots from Chula Vista. He reported, “There were about 250 people of all walks on the sidewalks bordering the intersection of H Street and Broadway. There were multilingual signs. Protesters blew whistles and cars honked constantly in passing.”

Downtown
4:26 pm PDT Even though the main march downtown San Diego has been over for hours, photos are still coming in to the Rag. Here’s a batch of the Waterfront march taken by OBcean Charles Landon:

As we finish up the four weeks of Trump’s war on Iran, it’s time to offer some key observations from Southern California.

• Trump is lying about the pace of “negotiations” with Iran in order to garner more time to accumulate more US troops in the region; this is all his “art of the deal” — confuse your opponent, make them believe you’re about to “walk away” from any talks on resolution. In this case, Trump has confused the American people, the mainstream media, European allies — even his own staff at the White House. On Thursday, he stated he didn’t care about the negotiations.
• Trump earned his TACO nickname, and changed his deadline for Iran, again for the third time. Trump Always Chickens Out.
• Despite Trump’s claims the “war is already won”, Iran and Israel continue to shell each other — even escalated attacks — and more deaths and injuries mount. Iran says 1400 of its people have been killed in the strikes over the last 4 weeks.
• The Straits of Hormuz are still closed to Iran’s adversaries. Trump couldn’t get any NATO or other ally to help free the fiery zone.
• Troops, marines, sailors are on their way; there’s reports that Trump has ordered another 10,000 soldiers to the region; there’s two ships filled with sailors and marines on their way to the Mid-East; there’s a brigade of the 82th Airborne Division on its way.
• America is on the verge of experiencing the largest protest — No Kings — in history, tomorrow March 28th as over 7 million people will be marching and protesting. Thousands of San Diegans will be protesting at the  22 events just in San Diego County. (The Rag will host an all-day liveblog about the events.)
• San Diego is about to enter the war big time: thousands of Marines from Camp Pendleton have been mobilized to go; many of their families live in the San Diego region, and if there are boots on the ground, expect to see many locals on casualty lists.

Tens of Thousands Expected Across San Diego County for No Kings March 28 

Organizers anticipate largest San Diego turnout yet after 80,000+ joined October mobilization

Tens of thousands of San Diego County residents are expected at 22 rallies, marches and family-friendly events on Saturday, March 28, building on the 80,000+ who mobilized countywide in October 2025. Participants say they are mobilizing in defense of democratic institutions, civil liberties, and social programs affecting San Diego families. Events are scheduled across San Diego County, including Downtown San Diego, Ocean Beach, La Jolla, Carmel Valley, Mira Mesa, Carlsbad, Oceanside,Vista, San Marcos, Escondido, Fallbrook, Temecula, Valley Center, Rancho Bernardo, Ramona, La Mesa, El Cajon, Chula Vista, Otay Mesa and Borrego Springs.

Here’s the updated list of No Kings events within San Diego County, March 28

MAIN SAN DIEGO RALLY & MARCH
Waterfront Park
10:00 a.m.–noon | 1600 Pacific Hwy, San Diego, CA 92101

Schedule:
10:00–10:45 a.m. — Main program & speakers
10:45 a.m.–noon  — March; return to Waterfront Park

By Tanja Kropf / ExploreClairemont / Jan. 14, 2026

You’ve likely driven down Kearny Villa Road, Linda Vista Road, and Convoy Street dozens (or even hundreds) of times without giving much thought to their history. Your first thoughts of Kearny Mesa probably flit to the Convoy District and its reputation as an Asian food hub, flanked by industrial warehouses and office complexes emblematic of the area.

But the land now occupied by frontage roads, brown, boxy office buildings, and award-winning ramen restaurants used to be something much different.

Dry, dusty land covered in leathery chaparral stretched for miles. The area was called the Linda Vista mesa. It was early 1917, and the United States was on the precipice of war. By April, the nation had entered World War I, ready to battle Germany, and needed a training site.

San Diego’s civic boosters lobbied hard in pitching the Linda Vista mesa area. The San Diego Union wrote, “No city can better serve the nation than ours, where every day is a training day.”

The Army agreed. In May, war inspectors surveyed the mesa and found it ideal: flat, open, close to rail and port, with plenty of room to drill soldiers. Plus, San Diego Consolidated Gas and Electric promised to provide electricity. Its proximity to the Santa Fe Depot

Here is a quick overview on this 17th day of Trump’s war with Iran.

• Cost of war — it was estimated that in the first 6 days of the war, it cost the U.S. nearly $2 Billion a day. The Pentagon reported that the first week cost us $11.3 Billions, not counting the expenses of the build-up. Tomahawk cruise missiles, like the one the U.S. military used in that deadly strike on an Iranian girls’ primary school, cost $2.2 million each. It may be worth keeping these figures in mind as the Trump administration argues it doesn’t have enough money to make health care more affordable.
• Cost of gas — since the war started on Feb. 28, the average cost of gas has risen 25%; the cost of oil 40%.
• The war is unpopular with Americans; only 1 in 4 support it. A good portion of the MAGA base is seething over the war, since their guy ran against “endless wars.”

Trump’s Assault Undermines Protections of Our Coastal Waters

By David Helvarg / The Progressive / March 11, 2026

My half-century as a journalist and two decades as an ocean advocate has taught me that democracy is not a guarantee of environmental protection for our public seas or people—it’s a prerequisite.

That’s why, in advance of what will be the third No Kings Day of mass protest against President Donald Trump’s increasingly authoritarian and unpopular administration, on March 28, a few activists from my organization, Blue Frontier, among others, are pushing for a greater focus on ocean-related issues, including clean beaches, safe and sustainable seafood, and oil- and plastic-free public seas.

While previous administrations have promoted offshore drilling and attacked climate science, the Trump Administration stands alone in ignoring the law and Constitutional separation of powers to undermine protection of our coastal waters.

Among other assaults on legal precedent, it has acted to undo the U.S. Civil Service Act during mass firings at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and elsewhere. It has also thumbed its nose at the Congressional War Powers Act and the military code of conduct in the September 2 killing of two survivors of a shipwreck, as part of a wave of deadly attacks on alleged drug-runners at sea.

From The Washington Post / March 11, 2026

The Iranian elementary school building where scores of children were killed as the U.S. and Israel began their massive aerial campaign was on a U.S. target list and may have been mistaken for a military site, multiple people familiar with the strike told The Washington Post.

The deadly attack occurred in the first few hours of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran — just as parents were hurrying to the two-story schoolhouse to take their kids home to safety — and killed at least 175 people, many of them children, according to Iranian state media.

It is still not clear why the building was hit, but one person familiar with the school strike said the building had been identified as a factory and had been an approved strike target. A second person familiar said there was an arms depot target located in the same area and did not know if the United States hit the school by mistake, or if U.S. officials had the wrong intelligence and thought the building was the arms depot.

“Initially there was some confusion on why it was on the target list,” said a third person familiar with the strike. The individual would not go into further detail, citing the military’s ongoing investigation into the strike.

By Steve Rodriguez

List of operational code names reads
like a best hits collection. Just Cause
and Desert Storm titles evoking
nostalgic memories of victory.

Not so much Iraqi Freedom, begun
with WMD promises and statues
toppled. Surging to a crescendo,
then lingering like a bad relationship.

The San Diego Veterans For Peace, Hugh Thompson Memorial Chapter #91, is very pleased to announce that a billboard reminding Active Duty Troops that they have a duty to disobey illegal orders, has been installed on the NE side of Harbor Drive going north, between 32nd and 28th Streets in San Diego.  This billboard is part of a national program by Veterans For Peace, with many similar billboards now being posted across the United States.

The San Diego billboard will be up for one month ending in early April.

Please see the VFP website: https://www.veteransforpeace.org/take-action/service-member-support

Background

Veterans For Peace has launched a campaign to remind our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters and grandchildren, who have joined the military, that they have the right and the responsibility to refuse illegal orders, and that we will support them when they do.

Only one in four Americans approves of ?U.S. strikes on Iran that have plunged the Middle East into chaos, while about half — including one in four Republicans — believe President Donald Trump is too willing to use military force, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Some 27% of respondents said they approved of the strikes, which were conducted alongside Israeli attacks on Iran, while 43% disapproved and 29% were not sure. About nine in 10 respondents said they had heard at least a little about the strikes, which began early on Saturday with a ?surprise attack that killed Iran’s leader.

The poll, which closed on Sunday, showed that 56% of Americans think Trump, who has also ordered strikes in Venezuela, Syria and Nigeria in recent months, is too willing to use military force to advance U.S. interests. ?The vast majority of Democrats – 87% – held this view, as did 23% of Republicans and 60% of people who don’t identify with either political party.

The poll was conducted amid ongoing attacks on Iran by the U.S. and Israel, and closed before the U.S. military announced the first American casualties in the operation.

No one still knows  why these 4 American servicemembers had to die. Trump doesn’t know. Hegsleth doesn’t know. Rubio doesn’t know.

They were killed in an Iranian drone strike on Sunday, March 1.

Yet, here they are – as the Pentagon has identified them of the six US service members who have died. The multiple reasons that Trump and gang have given for attacking Iran since it all began have varied with the time of day and night. From “regime change” to wiping out missiles they don’t have, or to making the first strike before they did ….Trump still hasn’t addressed the nation on the widening war. 

CNN:

The soldiers are Capt. Cody Khork, 35; Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39; and Sgt. Declan Coady, 20. All four were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, an Army Reserve sustainment unit out of Iowa.

The two other soldiers who were killed in the strike on Sunday have not yet been identified.

CNN first reported that the suspected drone strike hit a temporary tactical operations center at the port of Shuaiba in Kuwait on Sunday. At the time of their deaths the soldiers were serving with 1st Theater Sustainment Command.

A source familiar with the situation described the operation center as a triple-wide trailer with office space inside; the building was surrounded by concrete barriers that are typically used to protect military structures overseas from things like car bombs and improvised explosive devices. However, there was nothing overhead that could shield the building from drones or missiles.

By Alex Cheney / CBS8 / February 27, 2026

A Navy investigation has determined that human error caused an E/A-18G Growler military jet to crash into San Diego Bay during a training exercise on Feb. 12, 2025, according to information the Navy shared with reporters today. The two crew members safely ejected from the aircraft and sustained only minor injuries.

The investigation revealed that unfamiliar software triggered warnings during aerial refueling, complicating the crew’s approach to Naval Air Station North Island. Pilots contended with a wet runway and a tailwind while attempting to land, employing an aero brake in an effort to slow the aircraft. However, investigators determined the measures proved insufficient.

Gregory Feith, a former senior investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said naval air traffic control should have directed the pilots to use a different runway. “In aviation we try to never land with a tailwind,” said Gregory Feith.