{"id":7960,"date":"2026-07-22T04:08:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T04:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7960"},"modified":"2026-07-22T04:08:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T04:08:52","slug":"latest-combat-deaths-show-risk-has-shifted-to-troops-far-from-irans-borders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7960","title":{"rendered":"Latest combat deaths show risk has shifted to troops far from Iran\u2019s borders"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a war dominated by drones and long-range missiles, U.S. forces tasked with defending bases from incoming strikes have become more vulnerable.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Republicans cite an Olive Garden pasta promotion to push stricter voter ID laws<\/a><\/p>\n

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Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, seen in an undated photo, was killed Sunday at Erbil Air Base in Iraq. (Family photo)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The four U.S. soldiers killed in recent days during renewed hostilities with <\/b>Iran were all assigned to <\/b>air defense units, assuming the risk of staying on vulnerable bases to protect others from incoming ballistic missile and drone attacks.<\/p>\n

Unlike the past two decades of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, where soldiers on foot patrols and in convoys made up the majority of combat deaths, in this conflict such fatalities are occurring among troops who have never set foot in Iran, dying instead in attacks targeting bases sometimes hundreds of miles away.<\/p>\n

Since the war started in late-February, Iran has launched about 8,500 missiles and drones at targets across the Middle East, and about 100 of those attacks have gotten past U.S. and partner nations\u2019 defenses, a military official familiar with the intercept numbers told The Washington Post. Like some others interviewed for this report, the official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.<\/p>\n

That shift has put extreme pressure on the U.S. <\/b>military \u2014 and specifically the Army\u2019s air defense units \u2014 to quickly adapt, said Brad Bowman, an Army veteran and senior director <\/b><\/i>at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The troops who lost their lives in recent days are some of the most frequently deployed in the Army because of the changing nature of warfare, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese units have had to take on new responsibilities,\u201d Bowman said, noting Iran\u2019s proliferation of short-range drones and the challenge of detecting them and shooting them down. \u201cAutonomy, artificial intelligence and mass production [are] making the already very difficult job of U.S. Army air and missile defense personnel even more challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Jordan, Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, and First Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, were killed after an Iranian missile hit Muwaffaq Salti Air Base on Friday, officials said. Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, a neighborhood in Queens, is believed to have also been killed in the attack, the Pentagon said in a statement late Tuesday. Rampersad was listed previously as missing.<\/p>\n

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First Lt. Tyler James Feehan and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales were killed in an attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. (AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Tyler Feehan followed in his father Stephen Feehan\u2019s footsteps to serve in the Army, becoming a platoon leader.<\/p>\n

Feehan\u2019s unit is responsible for operating air defense systems including the Patriot air defense system and lesser-known Avengers, truck-mounted weapons that fire Stinger missiles and a heavy machine gun. The Avenger was designed 40 years ago as a last line of defense against incoming helicopters, warplanes or short-range missiles, but over <\/b>the past 10 years, the Army has adapted the Avengers to shoot at drones, too, as demand has soared.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, his father arrived in Delaware from his residence in Italy to witness the arrival of Feehan\u2019s flag-draped casket <\/b>at Dover Air Force Base.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarrying your legacy forward is now our purpose,\u201d Stephen and Shari Feehan wrote in a post about their son, who was engaged to be married. \u201cWe only ask this: that in remembering Tyler, people pause to see the good this country still holds, rather than what divides it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gonzales was responsible for operating and maintaining short-range air defense systems. \u201cHer courage and sacrifice represent the very best of Texas,\u201d Gov. Greg Abbott said on Facebook.<\/p>\n

In Iraq, Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was killed on Sunday at Erbil Air Base during the controlled detonation of an Iranian one-way attack drone, officials said.<\/p>

Read more Court-appointed U.S. attorney for Seattle sues over firing by Trump<\/a><\/p>\n

Swinton, who served with a separate Fort Bragg, North Carolina, air defense unit, died <\/b>\u201cduring an operation to safeguard fellow soldiers,\u201d his commanding general, Lt. Gen. John L. Rafferty, said in a statement about Swinton\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband, my best friend, my daughter\u2019s father, he\u2019s gone and I don\u2019t have words right now,\u201d Mia Gonzalez-Swinton wrote on her Facebook page alongside a montage of photos.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Swinton\u2019s mother, Christel Swinton Andujar, said that her son \u201cwasn\u2019t just a hero because he wore the uniform \u2014 he was a hero because of the way he loved, protected, encouraged, and inspired everyone around him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, left, and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, leave Capitol Hill after appearing Tuesday before the Senate Appropriations Committee to defend the Trump administration\u2019s request for billions of dollars in additional wartime funding. (Alex Wroblewski\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cIf we had other operators, you know, it would not have happened,\u201d Trump told <\/b>reporters. \u201cBut when you let other people do your job \u2026 sometimes it doesn\u2019t work out so well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment and neither did U.S. Central Command, which oversees the war. The Jordanian Embassy also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

The recent U.S. troop deaths have revived questions about the safety of American forces at bases in the Middle East, as those facilities generally were not designed to sustain retaliatory strikes because during the <\/b>previous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, fighting occurred inside those two countries and not at the regional facilities supporting combat operations.<\/p>\n

Before the Iran war began, the Pentagon moved many of its forces off larger bases in anticipation that Tehran would retaliate against those facilities.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s response has been broader than that, however, hitting large and small installations and civilian infrastructure, and threatening to hit any country supporting U.S. war operations.<\/p>\n

A soldier who had previously deployed to Jordan\u2019s Muwaffaq Salti Air Base told The Post that many of buildings there were metal trailers and thin-skinned tents not able to withstand rocket, mortar or drone attacks.<\/p>\n

But even newer construction at some bases in the region, which now includes layers of thick walls, cannot protect against a direct hit from a ballistic missile, said the soldier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not an expectation that these bases are going to be under attack,\u201d the soldier said. \u201cThe theater is not set for this prolonged stuff. And that\u2019s why you see the hits that we are taking.\u201d<\/p>

Read more On election meddling and China, Trump says \u2018we do things to them, too\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael Birnbaum contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a war dominated by drones and long-range missiles, the front line has moved to U.S. facilities far from Iran\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nLatest combat deaths show risk has shifted to troops far from Iran\u2019s borders - 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=7960\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Latest combat deaths show risk has shifted to troops far from Iran\u2019s borders - 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