An Indiana Army National Guard soldier died on Saturday, Dec. 28, the Department of Defense announced today.
Capt. Eric Richard Hart, 34, died “as a result of a non-combat related incident,” according to the department. Hart served with the 38th Infantry Division’s headquarters battalion and was deployed to Iraq to support Operation Inherent Resolve, the ongoing fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The Department of Defense did not share any details into the circumstances of Hart’s death. The incident is under investigation.
The United States military has approximately 4,500 troops in Iraq and Syria as part of Operation Internet Resolve. This month Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said that there are “at least” 2,500 military personnel in Iraq. Another roughly 2,000 are in Syria, double what the Department of Defense had previously admitted to.
Hart is the latest of several servicemembers to die in non-combat incidents in recent months while deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. In August two soldiers with the Georgia National Guard died in unrelated accidents in Baghdad. An airman with the 27th Special Operations Logistics Readiness Squadron died in an undisclosed location that same month.
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