Six Army reservists from a single unit in America’s heartland are the first fatalities of this war in Iran, leaving a region in mourning.
The unit is based out of Des Moines, and they are proof that “freedom isn’t free,” to use the words Thursday of Iowa’s Gov. Kim Reynolds.
It also now looks as though many of the 18 wounded in the same Iranian drone attack on the Port of Kuwait, were from that same Iowa reserve unit.
“This is devastating news for their families and for our state,” said Reynolds.
Her heartfelt words come less than one year after the unit deployed from Des Moines to the Middle East, with hugs from family members; tears from spouses, leaving behind children, friends and full time jobs.
During a patriotic community sendoff, no one could have imagined that a routine overseas tour would end with war and some not coming back alive.
As conflict in Iran enters its sixth day, U.S. officials are giving the latest updates on their offensive in the Middle East, as Chuck Goudie reports.
In the early hours of the war, an Iranian drone attack on the Port of Kuwait exploded as members of Iowa’s 103rd Sustainment Command was working logistics and military supply lines. The unit’s logo is now adorned by a black ribbon, in memory of those who died in that attack and those in serious condition now at an Army hospital in Germany.
“It’s my understanding that they were expecting or anticipating some of these attacks,” said Chicago native and retired Col. Josef Sujet, who commanded that Iowa unit on its last deployment in 2019, also to Kuwait.
Sujet knew four of the dead, soldiers who died on their return deployment to a Kuwait when the mission changed to real war.
“Even in my 33 years, I don’t think this has been a case that I’ve seen not to this extent, because four of these six soldiers are soldiers that deployed with the 103rd when we deployed in 2019 and 2020. So I knew them personally then,” Sujet told NBC Chicago. “It’s not often that you see that type of camaraderie where soldiers go through a deployment, which is obviously tough on them and their families, and they decide to come back.”
As military conflict in the Middle East snarls air travel, travelers stranded in Dubai have finally been able to begin traveling back to Chicago, as Chuck Goudie reports.
“It demands sacrifice and the kind of service that these heroes and their families have made on behalf of all of us. And it’s why our support for the men and women who wear our nation’s uniform is so important,” said Reynolds on Thursday. “We owe them not only our gratitude, but our unwavering commitment to stand with them, to care for them, to care their families, and to honor their service to our state and to our country every single day.”
During the two previous Gulf Wars, NBC Chicago’s Goudie recalls that reporting overseas it was always easy to find soldiers from the Midwest, because the draw from this area was so great.
It also seems to spike the odds when there’s a deadly enemy attack, he says.
The Kuwait drone incident last Sunday was the second time in three months Iowa soldiers were killed. Two Iowa National Guard members died in Syria in December at the hands of an ISIS gunman.
