On Wednesday, the Department of Defense announced that 44-year-old Army Sgt. 1st Class John David Randolph Hilty died March 30 in Erbil, Iraq, from a non-combat related incident.
Hilty was from Bowie, according to a media release from the DOD. According the media release, Hilty was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division in Fort Hood, Texas.
DOD said the incident is being investigated. Operation Inherent Resolve was established in 2014 by the Pentagon to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. A media release on the operation’s webpage said COVID-19 is not suspected as the reason for his death.