responded by launching missiles<\/a> and drones against Israel and several Gulf Arab states that host U.S. armed forces. <\/p>\nThose killed also included Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; and Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, lowa, who was posthumously promoted from specialist. No other names were released.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese men and women all bravely volunteered to defend our country, and their sacrifice will never be forgotten,\u201d Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll said.<\/p>\n
All were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, which provides food, fuel, water and ammunition, transport equipment and supplies.<\/p>\n
\u201cSadly, there will likely be more, before it ends. That\u2019s the way it is,\u201d President Donald Trump said of deaths.<\/p>\n
One of the youngest in his class<\/p>\n
Coady had just told his father last week that he had been recommended for a promotion from specialist to sergeant, a rank he received posthumously.<\/p>\n
He was one of the youngest people in his class but seemed to impress his instructors, his father Andrew Coady said Tuesday. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe was very good at what he did,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Coady trained as an information technology specialist with the Army Reserves and was studying cybersecurity at Drake University in Des Moines. He was taking online classes while in Kuwait and wanted to become an officer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still don\u2019t fully think it\u2019s real,\u201d his sister Keira Coady said. \u201cI just remember all of our conversations about what he was going to do when he came back.\u201d<\/p>\n
A mother of two who loved gardening<\/p>\n
Amor, 39, was an avid gardener who enjoyed making salsa from the peppers and tomatoes in her garden with her son, a senior in high school. She also enjoyed rollerblading and bicycling with her fourth-grade daughter.<\/p>\n
A week before the drone attack, Amor was moved off-base to a shipping container-style building that had no defenses, Joey Amor said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were dispersing because they were in fear that the base they were on was going to get attacked and they felt it was safer in smaller groups in separate places,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He last spoke to her about two hours before she was killed. He said she was working long shifts and they had been messaging about her tripping and falling the night before.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe just never responded in the morning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A calling to serve his country<\/p>\n
Khork was very patriotic and drawn from a young age to serving the U.S., his family said in a statement Tuesday. <\/p>\n
He enlisted in the Army Reserve and joined Florida Southern College\u2019s ROTC program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat commitment helped shape the course of his life and reflected the deep sense of duty that was always at the core of who he was,\u201d said his mother, Donna Burhans, father, James Khork, and stepmother, Stacey Khork, in a statement.<\/p>\n
Khork also loved history and had a degree in political science.<\/p>\n
His family described him as \u201cthe life of the party, known for his infectious spirit, generous heart, and deep care for those who served alongside him and for everyone blessed to know him.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of Khork\u2019s friends, Abbas Jaffer, posted on Facebook on Monday that he had lost the best person he had ever known.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy best friend, best man, and brother gave his life defending our country overseas,\u201d Jaffer said. Khork and Jaffer had been friends for more than 16 years.<\/p>\n
A loving father and husband<\/p>\n
Tietjens lived with his family in the Washington Terrace mobile home park in the Omaha suburb of Bellevue, Nebraska. He was married with a son, according to a Facebook page. <\/p>\n
Tietjens earned a black belt in Philippine Combatives and Taekwondo and was \u201can instructor who gave his time, discipline, and leadership to others,\u201d the Philippine Martial Arts Alliance said in a Facebook post.<\/p>\n
On the mat and as a soldier, \u201che carried the same values: honor, discipline, service, and commitment to others,\u201d the organization said.<\/p>\n
Nebraska Gov. Gov. Pillen paid tribute to the family Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cNoah stepped up to serve and defend the American people from foreign enemies around the world \u2014 a sacrifice we must never forget,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are holding the Tietjens family close in our hearts during this unbelievably difficult time and will keep them in our prayers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Boone contributed from Boise, Idaho, and Toropin from Washington. Associated Press reporters Sarah Raza in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Ed White in Detroit; Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; David Fischer in Miami and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) \u2014 Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor was just days away from returning home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[229284,23,229286,46391,229282,229283,229281,12,229289,16777,2822,2808,793,13015,13014,801,228242,229285,229278,229288,1576,6429,6661,35991,2806,3,229279,229280,229287,12955,795,21,19,22,20,25,24,964,29807],"class_list":{"0":"post-503213","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-abbas-jaffer","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-andrew-coady","11":"tag-bellevue","12":"tag-cody-khork","13":"tag-daniel-driscoll","14":"tag-declan-coady","15":"tag-donald-trump","16":"tag-donna-burhans","17":"tag-drones","18":"tag-fl-state-wire","19":"tag-florida","20":"tag-general-news","21":"tag-ia-state-wire","22":"tag-iowa","23":"tag-iran","24":"tag-iran-war","25":"tag-james-khork","26":"tag-joey-amor","27":"tag-keira-coady","28":"tag-military-and-defense","29":"tag-minnesota","30":"tag-mn-state-wire","31":"tag-ne-state-wire","32":"tag-nebraska","33":"tag-news","34":"tag-nicole-amor","35":"tag-noah-tietjens","36":"tag-stacey-khork","37":"tag-u-s-department-of-defense","38":"tag-u-s-news","39":"tag-united-states","40":"tag-united-states-of-america","41":"tag-unitedstates","42":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","43":"tag-us","44":"tag-usa","45":"tag-war-and-unrest","46":"tag-winter-haven"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}