Iowa Guard Releases Names of 2 "Red Bull" Soldiers Killed in Syria

Sgt. William Nathaniel “Nate” Howard and Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar

In an Iowa National Guard press release issued the morning of Dec. 15, 2024 via social media, the Iowa National Guard has officially released the names of two Iowa National Guard soldiers killed in a single-gunman ambush near Palmyra, Syria on Sat., Dec. 13, 2025. A U.S. civilian interpreter was also killed.

The soldiers killed and injured in the attack were all members of Iowa National Guard’s 1st Squadron, 113th Infantry Regiment.

Approximately 250 members of that unit are currently deployed to Syria, as part of a 1,800-soldier deployment of Iowa’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry “Red Bull” Division (2-34th BCT) to Operation Inherent Resolve across Syria, Iraq, and Kuwait.

According to the release, the Iowa soldiers killed were:

• Sgt. William Nathaniel “Nate” Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, Iowa
• Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, Iowa

According to a December 14 social media post by Howard’s parents, Jeffrey and Misty Bunn, via the Meskwaki Nation Police Department Facebook account, the family of the U.S. civilian interpreter killed in the ambush asked them to include the name of their deceased, Ayad Sakat. Jeffrey Bunn is the police chief at the tribal law enforcement entity located in Tama, Iowa.

Alad Sakat, via Jeffrey Bunn

Three other Iowa citizen-soldiers were also injured in the attack. Two were evacuated and are in stable condition, according to the December 15 release. One soldier was treated locally. 

According to news reports, the gunman was a member of Syrian internal defense forces, who was in the process of being transferred due to suspicions of being affiliated with Islamic State groups.

If so, the Dec. 13, 2025 attack painfully echoes the last time a deployed Iowa National Guard was killed in combat:

On Jul. 9, 2011, Sgt. 1st Class Terryl L. Pasker, 39, of Cedar Rapids was when an Afghan National Directorate of Security (N.D.S.) trooper opened fire on Pasker's vehicle while it was stopped at a traffic control point in Panjshir Province, Afghanistan. Also killed in the attack was civilian law enforcement advisor Paul Protzenko, 46, a retired Connecticut state trooper and resident of Enfield, Mass.

In a Dec. 14, 2025 interview reacting to the recent attack in Syria, Iowa veteran Todd Eipperle reflected on his own experiences in the 2011. According to the KCCI-TV interview:

“[...] Eipperle also described how an attack overseas triggers a complex and emotional process back home — from lockdowns on base to delayed notifications for families.

‘When something like this happens, everything changes,’ he said. ‘The notification process, the waiting, the uncertainty — I remember my wife going through that. Seeing this unfold again brings all of that back.’

For Eipperle, the news has meant sleepless nights and constant checking for updates, hoping not to recognize another familiar name. He says the National Guard is a large organization, but one that feels deeply personal.

‘It’s a big family, but it’s also a small family,’ he said. ‘There’s always a connection somewhere.’ [...]”