For more than two decades, American forward operating bases across the Middle East appeared nearly untouchable. Troops often moved openly without body armor or much concern about an enemy beyond guarded gates.

Operation Epic Fury changed that picture after its Feb. 28 launch, when a deluge of Iranian drones and missiles inflicted exorbitant damage. Installations once viewed as bastions of American military power were suddenly exposed, while vulnerable assets had to relocate.

Damage estimates have continued to balloon, and families evacuated from longtime regional hubs such as NSA Bahrain remain in limbo. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle told sailors as recently as Aug. 31 that they would not return there anytime soon.

The U.S. military has spent more than $47 billion on the war, according to a recent Pentagon estimate. That total included $6 billion to replace military equipment and more than $29 billion to replenish costly munitions.

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The Navy’s continuing blockade in the Strait of Hormuz requires additional fuel, munitions and supplies, pushing the expense higher. Inside the United States, the conflict’s impact is estimated to have cost an average of $2,000 per household.

Those financial costs are dwarfed by the human toll. Since Feb. 28, 23 Americans have died and 866 have been wounded, while two additional U.S. airmen died last week in incidents described as “non-hostile.”

The Pentagon has not released its findings concerning the Feb. 28 missile strike on the Minab School in Iran. The strike killed more than 150 people, including approximately 120 children.

Bloomberg reported on Oct. 15 that the Pentagon planned to withhold its internal investigation until after the midterms. Various independent investigations had already pointed to U.S. involvement in the strike.

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Public perception of the campaign became a political issue after Democrats took control of the U.S. House and Senate. Vice President JD Vance openly blamed the war for the Republican Party’s historic midterm defeat.

“The reason we lost is the war,” Vance wrote in a lengthy social media post. “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. But everyone knows why we lost.”

Against that grim backdrop, U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper appeared as the first guest on “Inside CENTCOM,” a lifestyle podcast that debuted Thursday. Its discussion included Cooper’s taste for french fries, basketball free throw shooting and sunny beaches.

Fleet Master Chief Lateef Compton, CENTCOM’s senior enlisted leader, promised, “I’ll be asking the questions you want to know,” from a set featuring a neon sign with the podcast’s name. The conversation soon turned to Cooper taking fries from Compton’s lunches during an earlier assignment together.

“We should let the world know: For years, I’ve been eating your french fries,” Cooper responded. “The secret is now out. I never met a french fry I didn’t like.”

The pair also discussed daily workouts, memories of service aboard previous ships, San Francisco 49ers legend Jerry Rice, playing basketball at sea and the importance of patience. Patience is certainly in demand among sailors enduring deployments that have stretched far beyond expectations.

The Arleigh-Burke class destroyer USS Spruance recently set a U.S. Navy destroyer deployment record for the period after World War II. As of Nov. 5, the ship and its crew had been deployed for 349 days without a definitive return date.

“We are hearing they’re supposed to come home sometime next month,” Marie Bailey, whose husband serves aboard Spruance, told Military Times in late October. “But we’ve been hearing about ‘next month’ for several months.”

Sailors aboard USS John Finn, USS Mustin and USS Rafael Peralta have also seen expected return dates move from 2026 into 2027. Some deployments are expected to extend beyond 14 months, according to Defense One.

“There’s [deployed sailors’] cars that were left on base that have been stickered to be towed and then to be junked,” a spouse of a John Finn sailor told the outlet. “So there’s sailors that are going to come back and have no cars.”

USS Abraham Lincoln returned home Oct. 8 after a 322 day deployment that raised concerns about deteriorating mental health. Multiple sailors reportedly attempted to jump overboard while the carrier was at sea.

Lincoln families are now navigating a permanent change of station as the carrier moves its home port from San Diego to Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton, Washington. Although the move was planned, the extended deployment left families scrambling once a return date was finally established.

Despite concerns surrounding extended deployments, strained operational tempo and sailors’ mental health, those subjects did not make the podcast discussion. CENTCOM’s debut episode instead gave the world the french fry confession it apparently had been waiting for.

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