Two of the soldiers killed in Jordan drone attack were posthumously promoted to sergeant

Two Georgia soldiers who died in the Jan. 28 drone attack in Jordan were posthumously promoted to sergeant, while the 41 soldiers injured in the strike were from National Guard units from four states.

Guard officials said Wednesday that the units whose soldiers were injured were from Arizona, California, Kentucky, and New York.

Fourteen of the guardsmen continue to be evaluated for medical care, including one service member who was medically evacuated out of Jordan and is listed in stable condition, a National Guard Bureau news release said. The other 27 guardsmen have returned to duty.

The guardsmen were wounded when a drone struck a U.S. base known as Tower 22 in northeast Jordan. The installation is near the Al Tanf garrison which sits just across the border in Syria, where other U.S. troops are based.

Several hundred soldiers and airmen with the National Guard are assigned to Tower 22 in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group, the news release says. The guardsmen come from units including the Arizona National Guard’s 1-158th Infantry Battalion; the California National Guard’s 40th Infantry Division; the Kentucky National Guard’s 138th Field Artillery; and the New York National Guard’s 101st Expeditionary Signal Battalion.

Three soldiers with the U.S. Army Reserve were killed in the Jan. 28 attack: Sgt. Kennedy L. Sanders, Sgt. Breonna Moffett, and Sgt. William Rivers. All three were assigned to the 718th Engineer Company, 926th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade, which is based at Fort Moore, Georgia.

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Sanders and Moffett were both posthumously promoted to sergeant from specialist.

“This promotion is a small token of our immense gratitude for Sgt. Sanders and Sgt. Moffett’s service and sacrifice,” Col. Robert Coker, chief of staff for the 412th Theater Engineer Command, said in a statement.

U.S. defense officials have blamed Iranian-backed proxies for the Jan. 28 attack, and while they have not named a specific group, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said on Monday that the attack “has the footprints of Kata’ib Hezbollah,” an Iranian-backed group blamed for other attacks against American forces in the Middle East.

Kata’ib Hezbollah recently announced that it is suspending further attacks against U.S. troops, but Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, seemed somewhat skeptical when asked about the group’s claim at Tuesday’s Pentagon news conference.

“I don’t have a specific comment to provide, other than actions speak louder than words,” Ryder told reporters.

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