The Defense Department has officially identified the sixth Army Reserve soldier killed in a March 1 Iranian drone attack against a U.S. facility in Kuwait as Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54.
Officials announced on March 11 that Marzan had been positively identified by a medical examiner. The Pentagon initially released Marzan’s name on March 5, adding that he was “believed” to have been killed in the attack, but his identification was still pending at the time.
The five other soldiers killed when the Iranian drone struck a tactical operations center at Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, were: Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien, 45, of Waukee, Iowa; Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Master Sgt. Nicole M. Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; and Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa.
Officials announced on March 2 that six soldiers were killed in the attack, but only four were identified the following day, initially withholding Marzan and O’Brien’s names because they had been listed as “unaccounted for” in the immediate aftermath of the attack.
All six of the fallen soldiers were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, based out of Des Moines, Iowa. The March 1 drone attack is under investigation.
“We honor our fallen Heroes, who served fearlessly and selflessly in defense of our nation,” Lt. Gen. Robert Harter, Chief of Army Reserve and Commanding General U.S. Army Reserve Command, said in a statement. “Their sacrifice, and the sacrifices of their families, will never be forgotten.”
A total of seven U.S. troops have been killed since the U.S. military campaign against Iran, named Operation Epic Fury, began on Feb. 28.
In addition to the six soldiers killed in the Kuwait attack, Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, died of his injuries on March 8 after being wounded in a March 1 attack by Iran on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia.
Pennington, of Glendale, Kentucky, was assigned to 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade, based out of Fort Carson, Colorado. He will be posthumously promoted to staff sergeant.
Since the start of Operation Epic Fury, Iran has retaliated by firing thousands of missiles and drones at U.S. partners in the Middle East, including those that host American military installations such as Qatar and Bahrain, defense officials said.
The Iranian drone that struck Port Shuaiba. Kuwait managed to penetrate U.S. air defenses, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters during a March 2 Pentagon news briefing.
News media outlets have raised questions about whether the tactical operations center in Kuwait, where the six service members were killed, had adequate protection against missiles and drones.
Defense officials have pushed back on such new reports by arguing the U.S. military has gone to great lengths to protect American service members in the Middle East.
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So far, U.S. military officials have not said publicly which American installations in the region have been attacked by Iran or the extent of the damage they have sustained.
Operation Epic Fury began after a weeks-long U.S. military buildup in the Middle East, during which the planes, ships, and missile defenses were dispatched to the region.
The aircraft carriers USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln and their respective strike groups are supporting ongoing operations against Iran. Each strike group includes several squadrons of fighter jets as well as destroyers escorting them.
The United States also moved several squadrons of fighter jets into the CENTCOM area of responsibility, including F-15s, F-16s, F-22s and F-35s. They join air units already in the area that have been taking part in operations against the Islamic State over the last three months.
Additionally, the U.S. fielded its new Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUCAS drones in combat for the first time on Feb. 28. It is still unclear which targets the drones attacked or how widespread their use was, but the cheap one-way drones are specifically modeled on Iran’s own Shahed-136 kamikaze drones, which have been widely used in recent fighting around the region.
UPDATE: 03/11/2026; This story was updated after the Pentagon announced that Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan had been officially identified.
