Three U.S. soldiers wounded in a Jan. 28, 2024, drone strike in Jordan are expected to arrive in Germany on Tuesday for treatment at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, according to U.S. officials. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
Three American service members wounded in a weekend drone strike in Jordan that killed three Army reservists are expected to arrive at an Army hospital in Germany on Tuesday, according to U.S. officials.
One of the injured soldiers is in critical condition but has been stabilized, while the other two are in stable condition, said Kirk Frady, spokesman for Medical Readiness Command Europe.
They are being flown from Baghdad to Ramstein Air Base on an Air Force aeromedical evacuation aircraft, Frady said.
From there, the soldiers will make the short trip to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest Defense Department hospital overseas.
A decision on whether evacuation to the U.S. for further treatment is necessary will be made by hospital staff, Frady said.
He added that the hospital is not expecting to receive any more troops injured in the Sunday morning strike at Tower 22, a small logistics support base in northeast Jordan along the Syrian border.
At least 40 other American service members were wounded, and the number could rise as personnel are evaluated, the Pentagon said Monday.
Eight service members required evacuation from Jordan to the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said. Five were assessed for mild traumatic brain injuries and are expected to return to duty, she said.
The three reservists killed in the strike were in their quarters. They were identified Monday as Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett.
They were assigned to the 718th Engineer Company, 926th Engineer Battalion from the 926th Engineer Brigade based at Fort Moore, Ga.
They had been scheduled to return to Georgia in the summer after their deployment, which began late last year as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the American mission supporting the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria..
An Iran-backed militia was responsible for the drone strike, the Pentagon said. Singh on Monday declined to name the group but said it “had the footprints of Kata’ib Hezbollah.” The group is backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite unit of Iran’s armed forces that supports terrorist groups and anti-American militants in Iraq and Syria, according to defense officials.
The military is investigating how the drone evaded air defenses designed to protect the roughly 350 Army and Air Force personnel deployed to the base, Singh said. Part of that review includes whether the drone wasn’t shot down because troops on the ground believed it to be a returning American drone, she said.
“I’ve seen those reports,” Singh said. “That’s something that Central Command is assessing right now.”
