Kiera Cody holds a photo of her brother, Sgt. Declan Cody, 20, outside his home in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday.
Charlie Niebergl/AP
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Charlie Niebergl/AP
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor was just days away from returning home to her husband and two children when a drone attack on a command center in Kuwait killed her and five other U.S. service members.
“She was almost home,” her husband Joey Amore said Tuesday from their home in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. “You don’t go to Kuwait thinking something is going to happen, and for her to be one of the first – it hurts.”
Amor was one of four US soldiers killed in the Iran war on Sunday and was identified by the Pentagon on Tuesday; The two soldiers have not yet been publicly identified. Members of the Army Reserve worked on logistics and supplied the troops with food and equipment.
He died just a day after the US and Israel launched military operations against Iran. Iran responded by launching missiles and drones against Israel and several Gulf Arab states that host US forces.
Among those killed were Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sergeant 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; and Sgt. Declan Cody, 20, of West Des Moines, Loa, was posthumously promoted to specialist. No other names have been released.
“These men and women all bravely volunteered to defend our country and their sacrifices will never be forgotten,” said Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll.
All are assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, which provides food, fuel, water and ammunition, transport equipment and supplies.
“Sadly, there will be more before it’s over. That’s the way it is,” President Donald Trump said of the death.
One of the youngest in his class
Cody told his father last week that he had been recommended for promotion from specialist to sergeant, a posthumous rank he received.
He was one of the youngest in his class but seemed to admire his instructor, his father, Andrew Cody, said Tuesday.
“They’re very good at what they do,” he said.
Cody trained as an information technology specialist in the Army Reserves and studied cybersecurity at Drake University in Des Moines. He was taking online classes while in Kuwait and wanted to become an officer.
“I still don’t fully think it’s true,” said his sister Kiera Cody. “I remember all our conversations about what he was going to do when he got back.”
A mother of two who loved gardening
Amore, 39, was an avid gardener who enjoyed making salsa from chilies and tomatoes in his garden for his son, a senior in high school. She enjoyed rollerblading and bicycling with her fourth grade daughter.
A week before the drone attack, Amore was moved off base to a shipping container-style building with no defenses, Joey Amore said.
“They were dispersing because they were afraid that the base they were in would be attacked and they thought it was safer in small groups in isolated places,” he said.
He had last spoken to her two hours before the killing. She said she was working a long shift and they had been texting her about a trip and fall the night before.
“She was unresponsive in the morning,” he said.
A call to serve the country
Khork was very patriotic and was drawn to serve the US from an early age, his family said in a statement on Tuesday.
He enlisted in the Army Reserves and enrolled in Florida Southern College’s ROTC program.
“That commitment helped shape the course of his life and reflects a deep sense of duty that is central to who he is,” his mother, Donna Burhans, father, James Khork, and stepmother, Stacey Khork, said in a statement.
Khork also loved history and had a degree in political science.
His family described him as “the life of the party, his infectious spirit, generous heart and deep concern for those who served alongside him, and everyone was blessed to know him.”
One of Khork’s friends, Abbas Zafar, posted on Facebook on Monday that he had lost the best man he knew.
“My best friend, dear man and brother gave his life abroad to defend our country,” Zafar said. Khork and Jafar were friends for more than 16 years.
Loving father and husband
Tietjens lived with his family at the Washington Terrace Mobile Home Park in the Omaha suburb of Bellevue, Nebraska. He was married with a son according to his Facebook page.
Tietjens earned a black belt in Philippine Combatives and Taekwondo and was an “instructor who gave his time, discipline and leadership to others,” the Philippine Martial Arts Alliance said in a Facebook post.
On the mat and as a soldier, “he shared the same values: respect, discipline, service and commitment to others,” the organization said.
The governor of Nebraska paid tribute to the Pillen family on Tuesday.
“Noah stepped forward to serve and protect the American people from foreign enemies around the world — we must never forget,” he wrote.
“We hold the Tietjens family in our hearts and keep them in our prayers during this incredibly difficult time,” he said.
