An investigation of the drone attack on a US military base in Jordan called “Tower 22” that left three Army Reserve soldiers dead in January 2024 reveals an atmosphere of complacency, lack of situational awareness, and incompetence that is inexplicable in a combat zone but sadly a day ending in “y” for the military of Lloyd Austin and CQ Brown.
At 5:53 a.m. on January 28, 2024, a drone launched by an Iranian-backed militia slammed into the sleeping area where most of Tower 22’s 350-man garrison was bunked. The dead were Sergeant William Jerome Rivers of Carrollton, Georgia; Specialist Kennedy Ladon Sanders of Waycross, Georgia; and Specialist Breonna Alexsondria Moffett of Savannah, Georgia. All were assigned to the 718th Engineer Company, 926th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade, Fort Benning, Georgia.
The office conducting the investigation is not identified in media reports, though it seems to have been under the auspices of US Army Central (USARCENT), the Army component of US Central Command. The investigating agency could tell us a lot about the thinking of the USARCENT command group at the time. Generally speaking, if it is an Inspector General investigation, the focus is on tightening up processes and procedures. If the investigator was appointed under Army Regulation 15-6, someone’s career was hanging by a thread, and a court martial is possible. If the investigation was by the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, then an assumption was made that criminal conduct was likely. My guess is that this is a 15-6 investigation.
Defense was neglected.
After the October 7 attack on Israel, defensive equipment was rushed to US installations in Iraq and Jordan. Tower 22 was “assumed” to be at a lower risk than other bases and got nothing.
No drone defenses available.
CENTCOM had requested anti-drone defense systems based on its risk analysis, but the entire US Army only had one, count them, one, system available, and it was reserved for redeployment training. Why you’d bother to use training time to gain familiarity with a system you will never see again is an unanswered question. Needless to say, nothing is too good for the troops, and that is exactly what they get. The base had one electronic warfare system designed to counter drones, but it was not used.