Marine Nicole Gee seen caring for Kabul evacuee’s baby before being killed in blast that claimed lives of 13 US troops
A MARINE previously captured caring for the baby of an Afghan evacuee in a touching photo was identified as one of the service members killed in the terrorist attack on the Kabul Airport on Thursday.
Sgt. Nicole Gee, 23, posted the picture of her holding the tiny baby to Instagram on August 20 alongside the caption "📍Kabul, Afghanistan
I love my job🤘🏼"
The photo was later posted to Twitter by the Defense Department's official account.
Gee's last post, a picture of her escorting evacuees onto a plane at Hamid Karzai international airport, was uploaded two days later.
"Escorting evacuees onto the bird🤍" the caption read.
But the same week, Gee was identified as one of the in a suicide bombing that killed 170 in total.
The Sergeant was stationed at Hamid Karzai's Abbey Gate on an assignment to help evacuate women and girls fleeing the Taliban when the explosion went off.
Lance Cpl. Joyner Seaman, a friend of Gee's, , "She was truly a badass individual—and more importantly, she was the nicest person. She was a Marine’s Marine.”
Gee, who was stationed at Camp Lejuene in North Carolina, had first joined to accompany her husband, who is also a Marine.
“She thought it was a good idea to do it herself and it was one of the best decisions," Seaman added.
Sgt. Mallory Harrison, who had roomed with Gee at Camp Lejeune, also took to Facebook to post a heartbreaking tribute following the news of her death in the blast.
"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."
'TURKEY SHOOT'
Seaman also criticized the withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying it was a mistake to pull out military assets before evacuations were completed.
“This withdrawal was conducted improperly," he said. "There were veteran military leaders who should have known better.
";It was a logistical and tactical planning error,” he added.
But he called the withdrawal "motivation" for service members: "This is what we signed up for. It’s surreal but this is motivating [us] to be better."
It comes as the family members of other Marines killed in the blast slammed President Biden for mishandling the withdrawal operation.
"I've lost my son, but there are still Marines over there. I am scared s**tless to see what's going to happen next, and what's going to come our way," said the father of slain service member Rylee McCollum.
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"I'm a carpenter; I've never served. But even I could see that that was a dangerous situation," echoed Steve Nikoui, another father whose son was killed in the explosion, .
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"From what I saw of the airport that they were in it looked like a turkey shoot."
"They sent my son over there as a paper pusher and then had the Taliban outside providing security. I blame my own military leaders… Biden turned his back on him. That's it," he also .
