Olivia IrelandAnd
Kayla Epstein
United States Army Reserve Command
The US military has confirmed the identities of six soldiers killed in the conflict with Iran.
They were killed when an “unmanned aircraft system” evaded air defenses to strike a command center in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, on Sunday.
U.S. Central Command initially said three soldiers died in the attack, but officials confirmed Monday that the death toll had doubled, after one person succumbed to their injuries and two other bodies were found in the rubble.
Those killed were Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M Marzan, 54, Major Jeffrey R O’Brien, 45, Captain Cody Khork, 35, Sgt Noah Tietjens, 42, Sgt Nicole Amor, 39, and Sgt Declan Coady, 20, who was posthumously promoted to specialist.
The six identified by the Pentagon were members of the Army Reserve, which, according to its website, provides logistical support to broader U.S. military operations.
Four were identified on Tuesday while the identities of the final two – Marzan and O’Brien – were revealed on Wednesday.
“These men and women all courageously volunteered to defend our country, and their sacrifice will never be forgotten,” U.S. Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll said in a statement.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that President Donald Trump intends to witness “the dignified transfer of these American heroes to grieve alongside their families.”
She added that the Defense Ministry was planning the repatriation of the remains.
Khork had already been deployed to Saudi Arabia, Guantanamo Bay and Poland.
The Florida resident wanted to serve in the military from a young age and enlisted in his university’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program, his family told the Associated Press.
Khork was “truly the life of the party, known for his infectious spirit, generous heart and deep concern for those who served alongside him and for all who were fortunate enough to know him,” his mother, Donna Burhans, father, James Khork, and stepmother, Stacey Khork, said in a statement.
Amor, from Minnesota, had previously been deployed to Kuwait and Iraq.
“She was almost home,” her husband, Joey Amor, told the AP. “You don’t go to Kuwait thinking something is going to happen, and for her to be one of the first, it hurts.”
She had a son in high school and a daughter in elementary school, and enjoyed gardening and rollerblading with them.
US Army
Tietjens, a Nebraska resident, had previously been deployed to Kuwait twice.
He was “a deeply committed husband and father,” according to a GoFundMe page set up for his family.
He earned a black belt in taekwondo and a form of martial arts known as Philippine Combatives, according to the Philippine Martial Arts Alliance, which posted a tribute to Tietjens on its Facebook page.
“He didn’t just wear a black belt…he lived it,” the alliance wrote. “He led with integrity. He trained with determination. He taught with humility.”
All three were decorated military personnel.
Coady was posthumously promoted to specialist, the U.S. Army said.
The Iowa resident enlisted in the Army Reserves just three years ago.
He was an information technology major and had “an incredibly bright future ahead of him,” Drake University, where Coady had studied, said in a statement.
His father, Andrew Coady, told the AP that his son “was very good at what he did.”
“I still don’t think it’s real,” said his sister Keira Coady. “I just remember all our conversations about what he was going to do when he came back.”
O’Brien of Indianola, Iowa, joined the reserves in 2012 and was deployed to Kuwait in 2019.
The identity of Marzan, of Sacramento, California, has yet to be formalized by a medical examiner, the army said in a statement.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a press briefing on Monday that a “powerful weapon” had struck a “fortified tactical operations center”.
Three US military officials with knowledge of the Iranian attack told CBS, the BBC’s US partner, that the soldiers were working in a makeshift office.
Officials questioned whether the building had been sufficiently fortified, telling CBS that soldiers were using a trailer protected by reinforced concrete barriers.
The United States has a long-standing defense relationship with Kuwait, and more than 13,000 American troops are stationed in the Gulf country.
Iran responded to attacks against it by launching missiles at U.S.-allied Gulf countries. Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar also experienced strikes.
