Lt. Col. Troy E. Bartley, 57, an Army dietitian with more than 20 years of service, died Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in a noncombat incident in Kuwait, service officials said Wednesday. (U.S. Army)
An Army dietitian with more than 20 years of service time died Sunday in a noncombat incident in Kuwait, service officials said Wednesday.
Lt. Col. Troy E. Bartley was serving at Camp Arifjan at the time of his death, which is under investigation, according to an Army statement. Officials declined to provide additional details about the incident that caused Bartley’s death, citing the probe.
Bartley, 57, of Alton, Ill., was a reservist who had served since 2003 and was a veteran of the war in Iraq, according to the Army. In Kuwait, he had served as a dietitian with the Army’s 3rd Medical Command of the 1st Theater Sustainment Command since July, charged with aiding U.S. troops in Kuwait and the broader Middle East with dietary health while deployed.
“We lost a husband, father, friend, expert, and leader from this terrible tragedy,” Col. Thomas McMahan, commander of 3rd Medical Command, said in a statement. “It is hard to lose a member of our Army family, and as we mourn together, we send our deepest sympathies to his family.”
During his Army career, Bartley commanded a company and a battalion and served as a brigade executive officer, according to the Army.
His awards and decorations included the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, Army Reserve Component Overseas Training Ribbon, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with “M” Device, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Iraq Campaign Medal.
Bartley is at least the fourth Reserve soldier to die while deployed to the Middle East in recent weeks, where tensions have risen since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the Israelis subsequent invasion of Gaza.
Army Staff Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, Sgt. Kennedy Ladon Sanders and Sgt. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett were killed in a one-way attack drone strike Jan. 28 at a small base in northeast Jordan known as Tower 22. Rivers, Sanders and Moffett were reservists assigned to a Georgia-based engineering unit, who were deployed in support of anti-Islamic State operations in the region.
