The Pentagon has identified one deceased soldier and listed another as a \u201cbelieved to be casualty,\u201d the fifth and sixth soldiers killed by Iran in a March 1 drone strike that hit Port Shuaiba, Kuwait.<\/p>\n
Maj. Jeffrey R. O\u2019Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa, has been identified, the Pentagon announced Wednesday. He was assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command out of Des Moines, Iowa. <\/p>\n
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, California, \u201cis believed to be the individual who perished at the scene,\u201d according to a Pentagon statement<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cPositive identification of Chief Warrant Officer 3 Marzan will be completed by the medical examiner,\u201d the release added. Marzan was also assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command. <\/p>\n The Pentagon released the identities of the two soldiers one day after naming four other service members who were killed in the attack<\/a>. <\/p>\n Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39, and Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20, died on March 1. All four soldiers were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command in Des Moines, Iowa. <\/p>\n \u201cWe honor our fallen heroes, who served fearlessly and selflessly in defense of our nation,\u201d Lt. Gen. Robert Harter, chief of Army Reserve and commanding general of U.S. Army Reserve Command, said in a release. \u201cTheir sacrifice, and the sacrifices of their families, will never be forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. Central Command officials announced<\/a> Sunday that three service members were killed in action and five troops were \u201cseriously wounded\u201d during combat actions against Iran.<\/p>\n On Monday officials said a fourth service member seriously wounded during Iran\u2019s initial attacks succumbed to their injuries<\/a>. Later that day officials stated<\/a> U.S. forces recovered the remains of two \u201cpreviously unaccounted for\u201d troops from a facility struck during Iran\u2019s initial attacks, bringing the total number of service members killed in the operation to six as of Monday, according to a CENTCOM update.<\/p>\n Several other troops \u201csustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions \u2014 and are in the process of being returned to duty,\u201d CENTCOM officials said Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cTo the families and teammates of these Cactus Nation soldiers: you have my deepest sympathy and my respect,\u201d Maj. Gen. Todd Erskine, commanding general, 79th Theater Sustainment Command, said in the release. \u201cOur nation is kept safe by folks like these \u2014 brave men and women who put it all on the line every single day. They represent the heart of America. We will remember their names, their service, and their sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Brien\u2019s awards and decorations include the Army Achievement Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Army Superior Unit Award, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Army Service Ribbon and the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with \u201cM\u201d Device<\/p>\n Iran has unleashed retaliatory strikes at U.S. military installations and civilian infrastructure across the Middle East amid ongoing bombardment by U.S. and Israeli forces.<\/p>\n The assault by U.S. and partner forces began Saturday at 1:15 a.m., CENTCOM officials stated, with the goal of knocking out \u201cthe Iranian regime\u2019s security apparatus, prioritizing locations that posed an imminent threat.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the primary targets of the operation were Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command-and-control facilities, Iranian air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and military airfields.<\/p>\n J.D. Simkins is Editor-in-Chief of Military Times and Defense News, and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pentagon has identified one deceased soldier and listed another as a \u201cbelieved to be casualty,\u201d the fifth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,11827,4426,26711,29908,4427,29909,801,803,133,4379,29910,3,226774,184869,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-505023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-army","10":"tag-circulated-air-force-times","11":"tag-circulated-army-times","12":"tag-circulated-marine-corps-times","13":"tag-circulated-military-times","14":"tag-circulated-navy-times","15":"tag-iran","16":"tag-israel","17":"tag-kuwait","18":"tag-military","19":"tag-military-times","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-operation-epic-fury","22":"tag-soldiers","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-united-states-of-america","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","27":"tag-us","28":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505023","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=505023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}