“Model Marine” Nicole Gee posted “I love my job” days before Kabul airport explosion killed her

Naval Sergeant Nicole Gee, who was among 13 U.S. servicemen killed in ISIS-K attacks in Kabul last week, posted a photo of herself in uniform as she held a baby in Afghanistan with the caption “I love my job”, just days before his death.

More than 170 people have been killed and hundreds injured in the suicide bombing attack on Kabul International Airport on Thursday. Gee and 12 other US servicemen were among those who died in the attack, claimed by militant extremist group ISIS-K.

A week ago, Gee, 23, posted a photo of herself holding a baby in Kabul amid the rapid evacuation of Americans, allies and Afghan refugees following the rapid takeover of the country by the Taliban. She wrote: “I love my job” below the image on Instagram.

In another image released just days before his tragic death, Gee can be seen standing near a line of evacuees boarding a military plane to leave Afghanistan. “Escort the evacuees onto the bird,” she wrote, including a gray-hearted emoji.

On August 20, the Department of Defense included the photo of Gee holding a baby in a series of images posted on Twitter. Along with the message, the Pentagon account wrote: “US military service members comfort infants at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. #HKIA. “

Gee was a native of Roseville, Calif., And served as a maintenance technician with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, reported Stars and stripes. She had been described by colleagues as a “model navy,” according to the military publication, and reportedly had perfect fitness scores.

Stars and stripes reported that a friend wrote on Facebook that “Gee’s last breath was taken by doing what she loved – helping people – at HKIA in Afghanistan.”

The ISIS-K attack – which opposes the US and the Taliban – came amid the chaos of the US military’s rapid evacuation of Americans, allies and Afghan refugees from Afghanistan to the following the rapid takeover of the country by the Taliban. The Taliban takeover came two weeks before President Joe Biden’s August 31 deadline for a complete withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.

When joined for comment by News week On Saturday, a Pentagon spokesman said the military “does not confirm any names” of those killed in the ISIS-K attack at this time.

“It didn’t have to happen,” a US military official told Reuters. “They didn’t have to die.

After the attack, Biden vowed revenge against ISIS-K. “We are going to hunt you down and make you pay,” threatened the president.

The US military carried out airstrikes in Afghanistan on Friday targeting ISIS-K attack planners.

“US military forces today conducted a looming counterterrorism operation against an ISIS-K planner. The unmanned airstrike took place in the Afghan province of Nangarhar, ”US Central Command spokesman Captain Bill Urban said in a statement.

“The first indications are that we have killed the target. We do not know of any civilian casualties, ”added Urban.