Pentagon identifies soldier killed in controlled detonation of Iranian drone ordnance in Iraq

Published Jul 21, 01:13 PM UTC

The Pentagon identified Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, as the soldier killed Saturday in northern Iraq during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone at Erbil Air Base. Swinton, an Air Defense Early Warning System Operator assigned to the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, died while safeguarding fellow soldiers. A second service member was wounded but treated for minor injuries. Swinton will posthumously receive the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and Combat Action Badge, and be promoted to staff sergeant. The article also notes two other U.S. soldiers were killed in an Iranian ballistic missile and drone attack in Jordan, bringing the total American troop deaths in the war with Iran to 17.