One of the six U.S. soldiers killed in the Iran war was identified Tuesday as Capt. Cody A. Khork, a decorated, 17-year military veteran from Polk County.
The Pentagon said Khork, 35, and five other Army reservists died after a retaliatory drone hit a command center in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, on Sunday, the second day of U.S.-Israeli air attacks on Iran.
Three others were identified as Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; and Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, lowa, who was posthumously promoted from specialist.
The names of the other two troops who died were not released pending notification of next of kin.
All were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command in Des Moines, Iowa, which provides food, fuel, water and ammunition, transport equipment and supplies.
The drone attack is under investigation, the Pentagon said.
“These men and women all bravely volunteered to defend our country, and their sacrifice will never be forgotten,” Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll said.
“Sadly, there will likely be more, before it ends. That’s the way it is,” President Donald Trump said of deaths.
Khork first enlisted in 2009
The Pentagon listed Khork’s hometown as Winter Haven, although he said he was living in Lakeland on his Facebook page.
Khork, who was decorated with over a dozen medals and awards, enlisted in the National Guard in 2009 as a multiple launch rocket system/fire direction specialist, according to the Pentagon.
Five years later, he commissioned as a military police officer in the Army Reserve.
He was later deployed to Saudi Arabia in 2018, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2021 and Poland in 2024.
One of Khork’s friends, Abbas Jaffer, posted on Facebook on Monday that he had lost the best person he had ever known.
“My best friend, best man, and brother gave his life defending our country overseas,” Jaffer said.
Khork and Jaffer had been friends for more than 16 years.
“He’s helped me get through the hardest and lowest parts of my life and been there to celebrate the best,” Jaffer said. “I’ve watched him support others and myself through the years when he had nothing to his name and never complained about it. That’s just the type of person he was.”
'She was almost home'
Amor was just days away from returning home to her husband and two children.
“She was almost home,” her husband, Joey Amor, said from their home in Minnesota. “You don’t go to Kuwait thinking something’s going to happen, and for her to be one of the first – it hurts.”
Amor was an avid gardener who enjoyed making salsa from the peppers and tomatoes in her garden with her son, a senior in high school. She also enjoyed rollerblading and bicycling with her fourth-grade daughter.
A week before the drone attack, Amor was moved off-base to a shipping container-style building that had no defenses, Joey Amor said.
“They were dispersing because they were in fear that the base they were on was going to get attacked and they felt it was safer in smaller groups in separate places,” he said.
He last spoke to her about two hours before she was killed. He said she was working long shifts and they had been messaging about her tripping and falling the night before.
“She just never responded in the morning,” he said.
A posthumous promotion to sergeant
Coady had just told his father last week that he had been recommended for a promotion from specialist to sergeant, a rank he received posthumously.
He was one of the youngest people in his class but seemed to impress his instructors, his father Andrew Coady said Tuesday.
“He was very good at what he did," he said.
Coady trained as an information technology specialist with the Army Reserves and was studying cybersecurity at Drake University in Des Moines. He was taking online classes while in Kuwait and wanted to become an officer.
“I still don’t fully think it’s real,” his sister Keira Coady said. “I just remember all of our conversations about what he was going to do when he came back.”
Tietjens was married with a son, according to a Facebook page. A photo online shows the couple with their son wearing a martial arts uniform.
Tietjens lived with his family in the Washington Terrace mobile home park in the Omaha suburb of Bellevue with around 100 homes. Several members of his wife’s family also live in the same community.
Nebraska Gov. Gov. Pillen paid tribute to the family on Tuesday.
“Noah stepped up to serve and defend the American people from foreign enemies around the world — a sacrifice we must never forget," he wrote.
“We are holding the Tietjens family close in our hearts during this unbelievably difficult time and will keep them in our prayers," he said.mil
In a statement, Lt. Gen. Robert Harter, Chief of Army Reserve and Commanding General U.S. Army Reserve Command, said:
“We honor our fallen Heroes, who served fearlessly and selflessly in defense of our nation. Their sacrifice, and the sacrifices of their families, will never be forgotten. On behalf of the Army Reserve, we express our heartfelt condolences to their families and loved ones. We remain steadfast in our commitment to honoring the legacy of our fallen and supporting their teammates and families during this difficult time.”
