FORT BRAGG, N.C. \u2014 President Donald Trump on Friday for the first time publicly revealed the nature of the injuries suffered by U.S. personnel in the daring raid to seize Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife from their Caracas home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Operation Absolute Resolve \u2014 which involved more than 200 forces and 150 aircraft \u2014 left American helicopter pilots wounded \u201cpretty bad in the legs,\u201d Trump said during an address to troops at Fort Bragg, a major Army installation in North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump explained that the pilots landed on a \u201ccouple of machine gunners\u201d who made it through a \u201cthicket of bombs,\u201d before adding: \u201cbut they were taken out rapidly by our snipers who were stationed on platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During his remarks, Trump told the service members that \u201cno other country has the extraordinary warriors that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith your help,\u201d the commander in chief noted, \u201cAmerica is winning again, America is respected again, and perhaps most importantly, we are feared by the enemies all over the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troops erupted in applause when first lady Melania Trump took the podium to offer brief remarks. \u201cTo our great armed forces of the United States stationed all over the world, I have a nostalgia-filled message,\u201d she said with a smile. \u201cHappy Valentine\u2019s Day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The base is home to the XVIII Airborne Corps and the Army\u2019s Special Operations command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After their speeches, the president and first lady privately met with the members of the Delta Force team who conducted the mission, a White House official told Military Times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump, speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One en route to Mar-a-Lago, said one of the soldiers who helped capture Maduro will receive the Medal of Honor. He did not identify the service member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese are great warriors. These are great patriots,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The president also said one of the soldiers who helped capture Maduro will receive the Medal of Honor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":111023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":68,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,12,25,68,70],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3416],"class_list":["post-84338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-your-army"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"XWLPEM54GNHKXM5X5DDC3KCSF4","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2026\/02\/13\/trump-reveals-us-helicopter-pilots-were-wounded-in-maduro-raid\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n