US military identifies soldier killed disarming a drone in Iraq as a 30-year-old from North Carolina

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military on Tuesday identified a soldier who was killed while disarming an Iranian drone in Iraq as a 30-year-old from North Carolina.

The military said it was investigating the death of Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton of Fayetteville during a controlled detonation on Sunday at an air base in Irbil in northern Iraq.

Swinton will get a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge, and be promoted to staff sergeant, the military said in a statement.

Swinton’s wife, Mia Gonzalez-Swinton, posted on social media that she was informed of his death on Sunday. The couple have a young daughter.

“I will never recover from this, you should be home. We had so many plans for when you got back, I’m sick to my stomach,” she wrote in a Facebook post Monday.

He enlisted in the Army in 2017, and was assigned to the 55th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

“Sgt. Swinton was an experienced noncommissioned officer who took great pride in his work and the people around him,” said Brig. Gen. John L. Dawber, commanding general of the Army Air and Missile Defense Command. “He answered the call to duty with courage, honor, and selfless dedication.”

Two U.S. Army soldiers were killed in Jordan while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks on Friday. They were the first U.S. troop deaths from direct Iranian fire since the opening days of the war.

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