Military officials have released the identities of three Army Reserve soldiers killed in a one-way drone attack that occurred Sunday at a U.S. military base in northeastern Jordan near the country’s borders with Syria and Iraq.
The three fallen troops were all members of the Army Reserve’s 718th Engineer Company. Their names, according to Defense Department and Army releases, are: Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, a resident of Carrollton, Georgia; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia.
Rivers, who hailed form Willingboro, New Jersey, joined the Reserve as an electrician in 2011, according to the Army release. He previously deployed to Iraq in 2018 as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the anti-ISIS effort. His individual awards included an Army Achievement Medal in addition to service and campaign ribbons.
Sanders enlisted as a horizontal construction engineer in 2019, the Army said. She deployed to Djibouti in 2021, earning numerous service and campaign ribbons.
Moffett, who also joined the Reserve in 2019 as a horizontal construction engineer, was on her first deployment, the release said.
All three soldiers were assigned to the 718th Engineer Company in 2023 ahead of the deployment. Sanders and Moffett previously served in another engineer unit based in the south Georgia town of Tifton.
Drone hit “containerized housing units”
At least 34 other service members were injured in the attack, including eight who required medical evacuation from Jordan, said Central Command. Iran-backed militia groups, supported by the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps, launched the drone, according to U.S. officials.
The drone hit the soldiers’ housing units, the Army release said, adding that an investigation into their deaths is underway.
The remote base where the soldiers were killed, Tower 22, houses approximately 350 American troops, according to Central Command. It provides engineering, aviation and logistical support to other U.S. facilities in the region, including the garrison at al-Tanf, Syria, some 12 miles north.
The 718th Engineer Company — part of the 926th Engineer Brigade’s 926th Engineer Battalion — is headquartered at Fort Moore, Ga., and consists primarily of part-time soldiers. It’s unclear whether the injured include troops from other units.
Davis Winkie covers the Army for Military Times. He studied history at Vanderbilt and UNC-Chapel Hill, and served five years in the Army Guard. His investigations earned the Society of Professional Journalists' 2023 Sunshine Award and consecutive Military Reporters and Editors honors, among others. Davis was also a 2022 Livingston Awards finalist.
