A U.S. Air Force Special Tactics combat controller with the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron maintains visuals on an Ohio Air National Guard 127th Airlift Wing C-130H Hercules during an airfield reconn mission during Exercise Eager Lion May 16, 2017, in Jordan. (Ryan Conroy/U.S. Air Force)
(Tribune News Service) — About 40 members of the Arizona National Guard were wounded in Sunday’s aerial drone attack in northeast Jordan, including one critically injured, the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs said Tuesday.
Additionally, three of the injured service members are part of an Army Reserve company assigned to Fort Moore in Columbus, Ga., the military confirmed Wednesday.
Injuries to the Guard members ranged from cuts and bruises to traumatic brain injuries, but 34 of the injured were able to return to duty, Arizona Guard spokeswoman Capt. Erin Hannigan said.
Three injured service members were expected to arrive at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on a U.S. Air Force Aeromedical Evacuation flight Tuesday evening and be transferred to nearby Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.
One of the injured service members is reported in critical condition, however, all three are reported to be stable, DEMA said.
After further examination by the center’s trauma team, a determination will be made by medical staff if any of the injured servicemembers will require evacuation back to the U.S. for further treatment.
Landstuhl Regional Medical Center is the largest U.S. Department of Defense hospital outside the continental U.S, serving as the sole military medical center and only forward-stationed evacuation and treatment center for more than 205,000 health care beneficiaries throughout Europe.
The remaining injured are undergoing continued observation to ensure they are recovering so they may return to duty, Hannigan said.
The injured Guard members serve in the Arizona Guard’s 1st Battalion, 158th Infantry Regiment “Bushmasters,” which was deployed in September in support of Operation Spartan Shield.
The regiment is based in Phoenix with dispersed companies in Tucson, Florence, Prescott and Buckeye.
Hannigan said that under Pentagon rules the identities of the injured service members will be withheld.
President Joe Biden blamed Iran-backed militias for the Jan. 28 attack, which killed three Army Reserve engineers from Georgia, though Iran on Monday denied it was behind the strike.
The Pentagon identified those killed in the attack as Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia.; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia, all of whom were assigned to the 718th Engineer Company, 926th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade in Fort Moore, Ga.
The military confirmed Wednesday three other reservists injured in the attack also are part of the 718th Engineer Company but declined to identify them, say where they are originally from or provide details about their condition, citing privacy reasons.
The 718th is more than halfway through a nine-month rotation to a logistics support base in northeastern Jordan, where about 350 U.S. Army and Air Force personnel are stationed, said Brig. Gen. Noel Palmer, deputy commanding general of the Army Reserve’s 412th Theater Engineer Command, which includes the 718th.
Contributing: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
(c)2024 The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, Ariz.)
Visit www.tucson.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
