DES MOINES, Iowa– The central Iowa community has been hit hard by combat deaths overseas.
Not only were all six soldiers killed in Kuwait at the start of Operation Epic Fury assigned to the Army Reserve’s 103rd Sustainment Command in Des Moines, but two were central Iowa residents.
Waukee resident Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien, 45, and Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, were killed during a drone attack in Port Shuaiba on Sunday, according to the U.S. Department of War.
They died alongside Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Fla., Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Neb., and Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minn. A sixth soldier, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, Calif., is also believed to have been killed at the scene. The U.S. government said it is awaiting his positive identification by a medical examiner.
According to a Service Verification record provided to WHO 13 by the U.S. Army Reserve in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Maj. O’Brien, a resident of Waukee who had ties to Indianola, commissioned in the Army Reserve as a Signal Corps Officer in 2012. He achieved the rank of Major on June 18, 2024…