{"id":1398,"date":"2026-05-24T10:35:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T10:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1398"},"modified":"2026-05-24T10:35:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T10:35:05","slug":"as-war-evolves-more-female-troops-make-the-ultimate-sacrifice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1398","title":{"rendered":"As war evolves, more female troops make the ultimate sacrifice"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Memorial Day, military families remember the Iran conflict\u2019s fallen and navigate heartbreak without mothers and wives.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more French Open starts amid a heat wave in Paris. Djokovic to play Perricard in the night match<\/a><\/p>\n

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An Army carry team salutes the remains of U.S. troops killed in a drone strike on a U.S. position in Kuwait amid the war in Iran. (Mark Schiefelbein\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Greg Pruitt had a surprise for his wife, Ashley. It was 2023 and the young family was about to transfer from Oklahoma\u2019s Altus Air Force Base to her next posting. Altus was special to them. It\u2019s where Ashley\u2019s military career had bloomed and so had their relationship, after Greg finally got the nerve to ask her out.<\/p>\n

So he arranged a date, a professional photo shoot for the two of them and children Emilia, 3, and Oliver, 12. In the amber-hued photographs of that afternoon, Ashley holds onto Greg as he dips her into the sunlight and she beams.<\/p>\n

Last month, Greg pulled out the photos as he prepared for a celebration of Ashley\u2019s life. The technical sergeant, 34, died in March after a midair collision over Iraq between two KC-135 Air Force refueling tankers, a tragedy that unfolded as scores of aircraft crisscrossed the Middle East during the early days of the Iran war.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe loved the responsibility and dynamic of being part of the crew,\u201d Greg Pruitt said of his late wife. \u201cShe thrived when there was something to be done \u2014 and she knew she could do it better than most.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ashley Pruitt is one of 13 service members killed in action since hostilities with Iran began in late February. A 14th service member died after a medical emergency in Kuwait in March. They\u2019ve joined the hundreds of thousands of service members who since the United States\u2019 founding have lost their lives defending the country, a sacrifice that is honored each Memorial Day.<\/p>\n

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Ashley and Greg Pruitt during a 2023 photoshoot. (Iyah Heninger)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

What\u2019s unique about this conflict is the proportion of female troops who\u2019ve been wounded or killed. In the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, women accounted for about 2 percent of all American combat casualties. They account for 12 percent \u2014 47 out of 405 \u2014 of those wounded by Iranian counterattacks, according to Pentagon records, and 23 percent \u2014 three of 13 \u2014 of those who have died. In addition to Pruitt, Master Sgt. Nicole Amor, 39, and Maj. Ariana Savino, 31, have also been killed in action.<\/p>\n

That more women are being wounded or killed in combat is not surprising, said Navy veteran Elisa Cardnell, president of the Service Women\u2019s Action Network. Iran\u2019s reliance on attack drones and longer-range missiles to strike back at U.S. forces has essentially put all American facilities in the Middle East on the war\u2019s front lines. It\u2019s also been 10 years since the military opened all combat positions to women. In that time, they\u2019ve filled positions in more combat-exposed infantry, armor and special operations posts, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen that join the military, all of us that put on the uniform, we do that knowing we are going to go into harm\u2019s way, especially those currently serving,\u201d Cardnell said.<\/p>\n

Nicole Amor was also a mom, to Adeline, 9, and Owen, 18. She served as an Army logistician, responsible for the movement of her unit\u2019s supplies and equipment.<\/p>\n

But \u201cshe was so much more than that,\u201d said her husband, Joey Amor.<\/p>\n

During drives to the kids\u2019 activities, Nicole and Adeline had a secret game to stare at traffic lights until they turned green. \u201cGirl power,\u201d Nicole taught her daughter.<\/p>\n

Adeline just shared that secret memory with her dad last week. They were in the car, and the 9-year-old said she missed girl power time with her mom.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more than make-believe superpowers, right?\u201d Joey Amor said. \u201cIt made my daughter feel stronger and more in tune to who she was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife had a way of connecting with the kids on a level that made them feel seen. It made them feel heard, and it made them feel powerful,\u201d he said.<\/p>

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Nicole Amor was killed with five other service members on March 1, in the earliest hours of the war, when an Iranian drone struck their base in Kuwait. The attack has raised questions about whether troops in the region were deployed with adequate protections given Iran\u2019s known missile and drone capabilities.<\/p>\n

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From left, Owen Amor, Nicole Amor, Joey Amor and Adeline Amor in 2022. (Family photo)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Joey and Nicole Amor met in military training at Fort Eustis in Virginia. Back then, Joey had a 2007 Chevy Colorado that he\u2019d personalized with a wooden flatbed. As he was walking from a class one day, he looked across the parking lot and saw a woman sitting on his truck.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time I got over to my truck, she was gone. I was like, \u2018the brass on this girl,\u2019\u201d Joey Amor recalled. A week later, at a bar with friends, he saw her again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ended up closing out the bar,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On their first date, Joey asked Nicole to marry him.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife was loved by more people than I could articulate to you,\u201d he said. For her service, \u201cI had to get a funeral venue with a thousand seats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ashley Pruitt was a boom operator on the KC-135 refueler \u2014 the service member responsible for making sure approaching fighter jets get correctly connected to the tanker\u2019s rigid fuel line. In the back of the plane she\u2019d lie on her stomach to look out a small window, each hand on a joystick to lower the line or shift it if a fighter started to drift.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a delicate job managed with a deft touch and a sharp eye, an incorrect connection or approach can foul up a line, damage a plane or cause an accident.<\/p>\n

Ashley \u201cwas a natural at it,\u201d her husband said.<\/p>\n

Like Greg Pruitt, who worked in a civilian job at the same base Ashley was assigned to, Joey Amor also left the military while his wife stayed in. They talked about what that would mean for their family. Even though Nicole was a reservist, they both understood that \u201cyou\u2019re committing to the military full time, regardless of whether you\u2019re active duty or not,\u201d Joey said, and the two would work out schedules.<\/p>\n

Before Ashley would deploy, \u201cI would do everything I could behind the scenes and just let her spend as much time with the kids as she could,\u201d Greg Pruitt said.<\/p>\n

Both men became emotional as they talked about getting their children through Mother\u2019s Day, and now Memorial Day, without their moms. Oliver\u2019s birthday just passed and Emilia just had her first ballet recital; Adeline\u2019s birthday is soon, and Owen graduates from high school in a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt ain\u2019t great,\u201d Joey Amor said.<\/p>\n

The Iran combat losses come amid a larger review by political leaders at the Pentagon to see if all military roles should remain open to women.<\/p>\n

Ashley Pruitt \u201cnever let the noise bother her,\u201d her husband said. \u201cShe did the work and better than most. She let her service and accomplishments do the talking.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the same with Nicole, Joey Amor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife,\u201d he said, \u201chad a sense of duty and honor to the soldiers standing next to her.\u201d<\/p>

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On Memorial Day, military families remember the Iran conflict\u2019s fallen and navigate heartbreak without mothers and wives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nAs war evolves, more female troops make the ultimate sacrifice - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1398\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"As war evolves, more female troops make the ultimate sacrifice - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Memorial Day, military families remember the Iran conflict\u2019s fallen and navigate heartbreak without mothers and wives.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1398\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-24T10:35:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/a052917b162ecfc9f58d7c8a9bd806f7-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1398#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1398\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"As war evolves, more female troops make the ultimate sacrifice\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-24T10:35:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1398\"},\"wordCount\":1272,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1398#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/f4d9e54cd66ad48b1e879d7cd4376237-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1398#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1398\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1398\",\"name\":\"As war evolves, more female troops make the ultimate sacrifice - 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