Syria attack victims were Iowa National Guardsmen, state officials say

The soldiers were sons of Iowa, raised in communities where people know one another by name, where service is seen not as a headline but as a calling. Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, wore the same uniform but carried different stories — different childhoods, different hopes, different dreams of the future. Yet both answered the same call: to serve their country in one of the world’s most dangerous regions. They died while meeting with local leaders, part of the long, quiet work of stabilizing areas still threatened by ISIS. Their mission did not make nightly news broadcasts. It rarely does — until tragedy erupts.

The attack claimed the life of an American civilian as well and left three others wounded. What should have been a routine engagement turned suddenly into chaos, the kind of moment that ripples through military units and families alike. Half a world away, Iowa felt the shock. Flags dipped to half-staff. Governor Kim Reynolds and Maj. Gen. Stephen Osborn delivered somber remarks, trying to contain the grief of an entire state in a few carefully chosen sentences. Their task was impossible, but their presence mattered.

Nearly 1,800 Iowa National Guard members are deployed in the region. For every one of them, there is a family waiting — checking their phones, saying quiet prayers, measuring time by the spaces between messages. The knock on the door that visited the Torres Tovar and Howard families now echoes in homes across Iowa, a reminder of the fragility that shadows every deployment. Behind each uniform is a mother, a father, a partner, a child, waiting for news that is either a relief or a heartbreak.Continue reading…