U.S. soldiers killed in Jordan drone attack promoted to sergeant

ATLANTA — Two of the young Army Reserve soldiers killed Sunday in a drone attack on their base in Jordan have been posthumously promoted to sergeant.

The Army ordered the promotions for now-Sgts. Kennedy L. Sanders and Breonna Moffett “in recognition of their exceptional courage, dedication and leadership” during their deployment, according to a statement from U.S. Army Reserve Command based at Fort Liberty, N.C.

Sanders, Moffett and Sgt. William J. Rivers were deployed to Jordan in support of anti-Islamic State operations when they were killed, the Pentagon announced recently. The soldiers were assigned to the 718th Engineer Company, 926th Engineer Battalion from the 926th Engineer Brigade based at Fort Moore, Ga.

“This promotion is a small token of our immense gratitude for Sgt. Sanders and Sgt. Moffett’s service and sacrifice,” said Col. Robert Coker, the chief of staff for the 412th Theater Engineer Command, which oversees Army Reserve engineering units.

The soldiers were killed when a drone launched by an Iran-backed militia group crashed into their living quarters on the small base known as Tower 22, near Jordan’s borders with Syria and Iraq. The Pentagon and President Joe Biden have vowed to retaliate for their deaths. Biden said Tuesday that he held Iran “responsible in the sense that they’re supplying the weapons to the people who did it.”

The president said he had decided how he would respond to the attack, but he did not provide any details.

The three soldiers killed in the attack were all part-time citizen-soldiers who called Georgia home. Rivers, 46, was from Carrollton in west Georgia. Sanders, 24, was from Waycross in south Georgia near the Okefenokee Swamp. Moffett, 23, was from Savannah.

Sanders and Moffett were horizontal construction engineers who enlisted in the Army in 2019. The pair had become good friends through their service, according to Sanders’ father Shawn Sanders, a Marine Corps veteran.

Sanders learned of the Army’s decision to posthumously promote his daughter in a call from Biden, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Biden asked Sanders and his wife in a roughly six-minute phone call for permission to join them when their daughter’s remains are returned to the United States. The AJC posted a video of the call on Tuesday in which Sanders’ parents accepted the president’s request.

“And, by the way,” Biden added. “We’re promoting her posthumously to sergeant.”

Shawn and his wife, Oneida Oliver-Sanders, smiled as the president made the announcement.

“That is the best news I’ve heard today,” Oliver-Sanders said in the video. “Thank you so much. You don’t know how much that means to us.”

The remains of Sanders and her fellow fallen soldiers are expected to be returned to the United States on Friday in a ceremony known as a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base, Del.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin plans to soon call the families of the fallen soldiers and join them in Dover, alongside Biden, Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, said Tuesday. (Corey Dickstein / Stars and Stripes)