A female Marine killed in Kabul, Afghanistan, was identified as 23-year-old Sgt. Nicole Gee.
Gee was a maintenance technician with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, according to Stars and Stripes. She was from Roseville, California, and was promoted to the rank of Sergeant three weeks before the suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Gee posted several photos to her Instagram showing her helping with the evacuation effort and holding an Afghan child. “I love my job,” she wrote. (RELATED: These Are The US Service Members Who Made The Ultimate Sacrifice In The Kabul Attack)
Gee’s friend Sgt. Mallory Harrison paid tribute to her writing, “My very best friend, my person, my sister forever. My other half. We were boots together, Corporals together, & then Sergeants together. Roommates for over 3 years now, from the barracks at MOS school to our house here. We’ve been attached at the hip from the beginning. I can’t quite describe the feeling I get when I force myself to come back to reality & think about how I’m never going to see her again. How her last breath was taken doing what she loved—helping people—at HKIA in Afghanistan. Then there was an explosion. And just like that, she’s gone.”
“My best friend. 23 years old. Gone. I find peace knowing that she left this world doing what she loved. She was a Marine’s Marine. She cared about people. She loved fiercely. She was a light in this dark world. She was my person. Til Valhalla, Sergeant Nicole Gee. I can’t wait to see you & your Momma up there. I love you forever & ever,” Harrison wrote.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack that killed nearly 200 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members. During a Pentagon news conference Saturday, MG Hank Taylor said that a retaliatory drone strike ordered by President Biden had killed two “high-profile” ISIS militants believed to have been involved in planning or facilitating attacks, according to the Associated Press.