On Jan. 29, the Defense Department released the identities of three U.S. Army Reserve soldiers who were killed in an attack at a base in Jordan near the Syrian border on Jan. 28.
The soldiers, all from Georgia, were identified as 46-year-old Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 24-year-old Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, and 23-year-old Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett.
RIP to all 3 soldiers that passed from a drone attack in Jordan near the border of Syria over the weekend. All three of them were from Georgia. 💔
Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, GA. Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Ga. Spc. Breonna Alexsondria… pic.twitter.com/IT5hug2tjY
— Everything Georgia (@GAFollowers) January 29, 2024
The three soldiers died when a one-way unmanned aerial system impacted their container housing units.
“The loss of Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett has left an indelible mark on the United States Army Reserve. These Citizen-Soldiers died in service to their country on Jan. 28, 2024, in Jordan,” Lt. Gen. Jody Daniels, Chief of Army Reserve and Commanding General of U.S. Army Reserve Command, said in a statement.
The Defense Department says the attack is under investigation, as it appeared the drone used in the attack was an Iranian drone. More than 40 people were injured when the drone struck where troops were sleeping. Eight had to be evacuated; some were in critical condition, but all were stable.
The strike is said to be the deadliest attack on U.S. service members since 13 Americans were killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul in 2021.
Sanders completed an eight-month rotation to Djibouti in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2021. Moffett enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2019, and Rivers enlisted in 2011 and completed a nine-month rotation to Iraq in 2018.
