SAN DIEGO — On the ninth day of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, some of San Diego's own veterans are speaking out — and many don't like what they see.

Army veteran Forest Gray was among dozens of protesters who gathered Saturday at Memorial Community Park in Logan Heights, calling for an end to the conflict. Gray served eight years in the Middle East and said the shifting justifications for the war have left him without a clear answer to the fundamental question every soldier asks.

"I fought in Iraq and, you know, everyone wears the uniform and gets deployed — we kind of expect and accept that we have to put our lives on the line," Gray said. "But ideally it should be for a greater good. I don't see what greater good there is here."

Jonathan Chavez, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps at Miramar Base in San Diego, echoed that sentiment. "No one wants these wars, no one has asked for these wars," Chavez said. "Public opinion in this country is also very clear — the vast majority of Americans do not support these conflicts."

Not all San Diegans share that view. Last week, hundreds of Iranian Americans took to the streets of Clairemont to celebrate the strikes, with many calling the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a long-awaited moment of freedom. "It was a feeling of euphoria knowing that my people are free," Bobby Shah told NBC 7.

The divide reflects the complexity of the war's impact on a city deeply tied to the military. According to UCLA's Center for Near Eastern Studies, about 600,000 Iranians live in the United States — and roughly half are in California. For East County residents with family members serving at Miramar, Naval Base San Diego, or Camp Pendleton, the conflict is no longer distant news.