One of the United States military members killed in the ISIS attack at Kabul Airport was expecting to become a father in three weeks, the Washington Post reported Friday.
Rylee McCollum was married with a baby on the way, Cheyenne McCollum, his sister, told the Washington Post. He was a native of Bondurant, Wyoming.
Navy Corpsman Max Soviak
Marine Kareem Nikoui
Marine Jared Schmitz
Marine Rylee McCollum
Marine David Lee Espinoza
Marine Jared SchmitzRemember the heroes who died in Kabul. RIP 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/tcNzlxdiaP
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 27, 2021
“He was so excited to be a dad, and he was going to be a great dad,” McCollum said, according to the Washington Post.
Cheyenne also raved about her brother’s dedication to being a Marine. Ryan “was a Marine before he knew he was allowed to be a Marine,” she reportedly said. “He’d carry around his toy rifle and wear his sister’s pink princess snow boots and he’d either be hunting or he was a Marine. Sometimes it would be with nothing on underneath, just a T-shirt.” (RELATED: ‘He Was Just A Kid’: Sister Speaks Out After Navy Corpsman Brother Identified As Victim Of Kabul Attack)
Ryan was one of the 11 Marines who died in Thursday’s bombing by ISIS-K at Kabul Airport. An Army soldier and Navy sailor were also among the casualties. 18 other U.S. military members were wounded in the attack, which resulted in the most troops killed in action in a single day in Afghanistan since 2011.
Cheyenne revealed that her brother wanted to be a history teacher and a wrestling coach after he completed his military service, the Washington Post reported. Regi Stone, a father of a friend of Rylee McCollum’s lauded him as resilient, smart, and courageous. He described him as “a good kid,” according to the Washington Post.
“We want to make sure that people know that these are the kids that are sacrificing themselves, and he’s got a family who loves him and a wife who loves him and a baby that he’ll never get to meet,” Cheyenne McCollum reportedly said.