From a military outpost in the Jordan desert, Spec. Breonna A. Moffett talked daily with her family in Savannah, Ga. Sometimes, her mother said, it was a quick call to wish her little sister a good day at school. Others, she\u2019d joke about her dog, Simba, or work on a \u201cPaw Patrol\u201d coloring book with her 3-year-old nephew over FaceTime.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was so happy to do that for her nephew,\u201d said her mother, Francine. \u201cShe always called home. She never really missed a day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moffett, 23, was one of three U.S. soldiers killed early Sunday in a drone attack near Jordan\u2019s borders with Syria and Iraq. The explosion rocked the troops\u2019 living quarters \u2014 small, sparsely appointed shipping containers \u2014 after a drone slipped past air defenses as many were still in bed asleep. Upward of 50 others, including some infantrymen from the Arizona National Guard, were injured. At least one service member is in critical condition, officials said.<\/p>\n
The incident underscores how Middle East deployments, long defined by the potential for danger, have grown even more perilous and unpredictable for those stationed far from a typical battlefield. Evolving tactics by U.S. adversaries, aided increasingly by inexpensive technology, have given rise to a wicked, widening array of threats that are hard to predict and counter.<\/p>\n
President Biden has blamed Sunday\u2019s violence on groups backed by Iran that have targeted U.S. military positions relentlessly since the fall, when Israel\u2019s invasion of Gaza \u2014 and Washington\u2019s considerable military support for the Jewish state \u2014 set off a ferocious wave of anti-American sentiment. Moffett and the other slain soldiers, Sgt. William J. Rivers, 46, and Spec. Kennedy L. Sanders, 24, are the first U.S. personnel killed by hostile fire since then.<\/p>\n
The president has promised retribution.<\/p>\n
Moffett, Rivers and Sanders were members of the same Army Reserve unit from Fort Moore, a massive installation in western Georgia that abuts the Chattahoochee River. Their deployment to Jordan was the kind of assignment that, despite its low profile, is essential for the U.S. military to function in a combat zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just have to plan around this being a possible outcome if we\u2019re going to have troops deployed there, period,\u201d said Allison Jaslow, the chief executive of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, noting that similar attacks had occurred long before the war in Gaza. \u201cI hate this is how we get attention on the fact that there are men and women across the globe fighting terrorism for us, but it has been the truth all along.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 718th Engineer Company went overseas in August, part of the Pentagon\u2019s enduring mission to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group. Its members were posted, along with about 350 other Army and Air Force personnel, to Tower 22. The small, dusty facility is a key support base for a larger U.S. outpost, Tanf, about 25 miles away over the border in Syria.<\/p>\n
Rivers served as an electrician, while Sanders and Moffett were construction engineers. Soldiers in those jobs typically operate bulldozers, backhoes and other heavy equipment.<\/p>\n
Before joining the Army in 2019, Moffett had served as the drum major in her high school marching band and participated in a Junior Reserve Officers\u2019 Training Corps (JROTC) program. She was close with her siblings and embraced caring for her dog, her mother said.<\/p>\n
Rivers lived in Carrollton, Ga., an exurban Atlanta town of about 27,000, many of whom are veterans or have service members in their families. Carrollton Mayor Betty B. Cason said the town is \u201cdevastated\u201d and will do whatever it takes to support the Rivers family. He had deployed to Iraq in 2018, Army officials said.<\/p>\n
Although Cason did not know Rivers personally, she said he had a son who is in the band at the local high school.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are just your typical Carrollton family,\u201d Cason said. \u201cIt\u2019s just so sad. We are a very close-knit community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the past two days, Carrollton\u2019s police force has been dispatched to the Rivers home to help prevent the media and others from bothering the family. Neighbors have taken them flowers and food. And Cason said the entire town stands ready to console and support the family in any way it can.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou may not know them personally,\u201d she said, \u201cbut they are part of your community and it has an effect.\u201d Her community was stung by the loss of all three soldiers, even though Moffett and Sanders were from the other corners of the state. \u201cIt\u2019s the ultimate sacrifice they gave for our protection,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Sanders, who lived in Waycross, Ga., had volunteered for the deployment, her family told the Associated Press. She volunteered as a youth soccer and basketball coach when not deployed.<\/p>\n
In the community of 14,000, Sanders stood out, said Ulysses D. Rayford, the city manager. She was a former high school basketball star and the daughter of a Marine Corps veteran, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was a valued member of this city, and everyone here recognizes her sacrifice,\u201d Rayford said. He called Sanders \u201ca very friendly person who had a lot of friends. She was a great spirited person,\u201d Rayford added, \u201cand this is a great tragic loss for us all.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pentagon has said that Sunday marked the first attack on Tower 22, but the base had the look of a possible target. Militants have targeted numerous installations, including nearby Tanf, seemingly looking for vulnerabilities in American air defenses. In some cases, U.S. military officials have acknowledged that, despite their vigilance, some incoming drones had managed to get through.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, it appears the weaponized drone was mistaken for an American aircraft returning to the installation.<\/p>\n
Moffett\u2019s mother said that while she and her daughter tended to keep their talks light and not discuss safety, her daughter appeared to be enjoying her time in Jordan.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was always smiling, always laughing, always with her friends,\u201d Francine Moffett recalled.<\/p>\n
Biden has spoken with the three families, the White House said Tuesday, and he intends to travel to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Friday when their remains return home.<\/p>\n
Rayford, the city manager in Sanders\u2019s hometown, said local officials expect her remains will be transferred from Delaware to Waycross, where a funeral will be held. People there are devising plans to honor her, he said. On Monday, the Ware County Board of Commissioners issued a proclamation ordering all flags be lowered to half-staff until Sanders\u2019s interment. During the monthly \u201cFirst Friday\u201d night in the center of the town, a moment of silence will be held.<\/p>\n
The town has also decided to rename the street in front of Sanders\u2019s family home in her honor, and June 30 \u2014 Sanders\u2019s birthday \u2014 will be designated Kennedy Ladon Sanders Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery year, on her birthday, we will do a ceremony for her,\u201d Rayford said.<\/p>\n
Rayford said the entire town is grieving while they try to comprehend how short life can be. \u201cIt just makes you reflect on your own life and how precious your life is and how important it is to live it respectfully,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd she lived, although a short life, she lived a respectable life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Army officials who visited Moffett\u2019s family on Sunday to notify them of her death said that the attack remains under investigation, and that the service intends to provide them with more information after that work concludes, Francine Moffett said.<\/p>\n
The notification process, she said, was \u201cjust like you see in the movies,\u201d with soldiers in dress uniforms arriving at her home in Savannah.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just show up at your door,\u201d she said. \u201cMy husband came upstairs and said, \u2018Two guys in uniform are downstairs.\u2019 And when he said that, I just knew. It\u2019s just indescribable. You see it on TV and you hear about it, but you never want to experience it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alex Horton, Monika Mathur, Tyler Pager and Missy Ryan contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
From a military outpost in the Jordan desert, Spec. Breonna A. Moffett talked daily with her family in Savannah, Ga. Sometimes, her mother said, it was a quick call to wish her little sister a good day at school. Others, she\u2019d joke about her dog, Simba, or work on a \u201cPaw Patrol\u201d coloring book with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}