{"id":380864,"date":"2026-07-21T12:25:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T12:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/380864\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T12:25:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T12:25:38","slug":"friends-and-leaders-honor-fallen-texas-soldier-as-iran-conflict-sparks-political-divide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/380864\/","title":{"rendered":"Friends and leaders honor fallen Texas soldier as Iran conflict sparks political divide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 A 19-year-old Army private from North Texas is among two U.S. soldiers killed in an <a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/nation-world\/us-launches-9th-straight-night-of-strikes-on-iran-after-3rd-american-service-member-killed-iraq-jordan-central-command-president-donald-trump-strait-of-hormuz-naval-blockade-oil-nuclear-weapons-department-of-war-60-day-interim-deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Iranian strike on a military air base<\/a> in Jordan, according to the Pentagon.<\/p>\n<p>Army Pvt. Isabella Gonzales graduated from Hebron High School last year and was supporting Operation Inherent Resolve when Iran struck the base Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Her friends describe her as outgoing, brave and optimistic. Misael Galdamez, one of Gonzales\u2019 best friends, said they were proud of her for pushing through during boot camp.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow proud we are of her for being able to handle boot camp. When she first had doubts that she couldn\u2019t, she did it, pushed through,\u201d Galdamez said. \u201cWe\u2019re really proud of her. We just wish we could see her again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Texas lawmakers and political candidates are also honoring Gonzales and reacting to her death.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTexas has lost one of our own,\u201d U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Greg Abbott said Gonzales\u2019 courage and sacrifice represented the very best of Texas.<\/p>\n<p>Democratic candidate for governor and state Rep. Gina Hinojosa called Gonzales \u201ca daughter of Texas who served with courage and honor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both candidates for Texas\u2019 U.S. Senate seat also reacted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, we lift up and honor the family of Private Isabella Gonzales,\u201d Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote on X.<\/p>\n<p>His opponent, state Rep. James Talarico, raised concerns about sending more American service members into a prolonged conflict.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe should not be sending our brave young men and women like Isabella off to die in another forever war,\u201d Talarico said. \u201cOur service members love this country. It\u2019s time for this country to love them back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The other soldier killed was 25-year-old 1st Lt. Tyler Feehan of Hawaii.<\/p>\n<p>The soldiers\u2019 deaths come as the U.S. carries out another round of strikes against Iran. Video released by <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CENTCOM\/status\/2078920477779890312\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">U.S. Central Command<\/a> shows what the military says are the latest American attacks on Iranian military sites and capabilities.<\/p>\n<p>Iranian state media reported explosions in several locations.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. is also sending more fighter jets to the Middle East as President Donald Trump considers what comes next.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe feel very badly, but you know those great people, those great patriots who are out there fighting that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,\u201d Trump said. <\/p>\n<p>Trump has warned that Iran will \u201cpay many times over\u201d for every American killed. The White House has not said how long the latest round of military action could continue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 A 19-year-old Army private from North Texas is among two U.S. soldiers killed in an&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-380864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}