Who Were The 3 Black U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers Killed in Jordan Drone Strike?

The Defense Department released the identities of the three U.S. Army Reserve soldiers who were killed in a drone strike near Syria this weekend.

Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, 2 Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, were all Georgia natives. The three were assigned to the 718th Engineer Company, 926th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade at Fort Moore, per a report from DOD. Their operations were to support Operation Inherent Resolve to ensure the defeat of ISIS.

Upon deployment, the three were stationed at a logistics support base at Tower 22 of the Jordanian Defense Network, located near the Syrian border, according to the DOD. They were there with an additional 300 Army and Air Force personnel.

However, early Sunday morning, a one-way un-crewed aerial system “impacted” their container housing units, killing the three and injuring dozens. This was the third drone attack on the base in the last six months, Pentagon officials told NBC News. However, the other two were unsuccessful, leaving the question of how this drone strike not only breached the post but resulted in casualties.

The report says officials have two theories: either the drone flew in as a U.S. drone was flying out and the defense systems didn’t recognize the drone as foreign or the drone flew in at a low altitude. Also, it’s currently unclear if the attack was intentional.

Biden officials said Monday that despite the incident, the U.S. doesn’t plan to go to war with Iran by striking back within Iran’s borders, but instead seeks to de-escalate the situation, per CNN.

As the investigation continues, the families of the victims remember the lives and achievements of their brave loved ones before the attack.

Kennedy Sanders’ father, Shawn, told NBC that his daughter was a “happy-go-lucky” young woman who always had a smile on her face. He said he had no worries or fears about her safety, believing Jordan wasn’t a hostile place based on conversations with his daughter. Sanders was enlisted in 2019 and this was her second deployment to Jordan. She received several awards, including the National Defense Service Medal.

Francine and Bernard Moffett described their daughter, Breonna, as a generous, loving person. She was a home care provider for disabled individuals in addition to her Army service and would routinely have morning calls with her 8-year-old sister to check-in, her parents told The Associated Press.

“She loved life. She was an amazing big sister, an amazing daughter, and she loved everybody,” they said according to a family statement. She also enlisted in 2019 and received awards including the Army Service Ribbon.

The report says Rivers enlisted in 2011, completed a nine-month rotation to Iraq in 2018 and received a slew of honors and awards including the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. Rivers’ family has not spoken out publicly yet.