A 30-year-old husband and father of two. A 25-year-old officer just weeks away from earning his MBA. A 19-year-old recent high school graduate. And a 28-year-old from Queens, New York, with a “radiant smile”. The Pentagon this week identified three American service members who were killed, and a fourth believed to have been killed, in the Middle East over the past week amid an escalation in attacks between the United States and Iranian forces. Their deaths bring the number of US troops killed since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran in late February to 18, and hundreds of troops have also been injured, including nearly 100 since 7 July alone. The Pentagon has said that 96% of the nearly 100 injured since early July have since returned to duty. On Wednesday, Donald Trump attended the dignified transfer of the US service members at Dover airforce base in Delaware. Here’s a look at the four service members the Pentagon identified this week:

Michael Swinton, 30

On Tuesday, the Pentagon announced the death of Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, who officials said was an active-duty soldier who was “supporting overseas operations in Iraq”. The Pentagon said that Swinton was killed in action in northern Iraq over the weekend during the disposal of what the military described on Sunday as a “downed Iranian one-way attack drone” at Erbil airbase in Iraq. The incident, which officials described as a “controlled detonation”, is under investigation.

The Pentagon said that Swinton was assigned to D battery, 2nd battalion, 55th air defense artillery regiment, 108th air defense artillery brigade at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. His wife, Mia Gonzalez-Swinton, described him in a message to the Guardian as “an amazing man”. “He had an impact on anyone that crossed paths with him,” she said. “He was an amazing father, and amazing leader. He cared and loved hard for everyone in his life.” Swinton leaves behind two children: a four-year-old daughter, and a six-year-old son, she said. The military said that Swinton enlisted in the US army in 2017 as a 14H air defense early warning system operator, and that he reclassified as a 14E patriot fire control enhanced operator/maintainer.

Tyler Feehan, 25

First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, was supporting overseas operations in Jordan and was killed in an Iranian attack at Muwaffaq Salti airbase in Jordan last week. The US army said Feehan enlisted in the US army in 2019 as a 12B combat engineer with the Hawaii army national guard and later commissioned as an active-duty air defense artillery officer in 2024, and was assigned to 2nd battalion, 55th air defense artillery regiment, 32nd army air and missile defense command, as a platoon leader at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The US army said that Feehan would be posthumously promoted to the rank of captain. Southern Utah University said in a statement that Feehan was both a SUU graduate and current student in the school’s MBA program. The university said that he was just weeks away from earning his MBA from the school. His degree will be awarded posthumously.

Isabella Gonzales, 19

Private Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, was also killed in the Iranian attack at Muwaffaq Salti airbase in Jordan. Gonzales was assigned to 1st battalion, 57th air defense artillery regiment, 52nd air defense artillery brigade, 10th army air missile defense command in Ansbach, Germany, the Pentagon said. Gonzales graduated from Hebron high school in Carrollton, Texas, in 2025, and joined the US army after. In a statement to the Guardian, the Lewisville independent school district said:“She gave her life in [army] service, and our district is heartbroken by her loss.”