Jamiah Gonzalez-Swinton, widow of Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, expressed profound distress and confusion following the sudden removal of her husband's name from the Department of Defense's public casualty count of U.S. service members who have died in the ongoing conflict with Iran. Swinton, from Fayetteville, North Carolina, was killed Sunday while stationed at an airbase in Iraq.
During an interview on CNN's "Outfront" Friday, Gonzalez-Swinton stated that no one from the Department of Defense or any other government entity had reached out to explain why her husband's name, along with those of three other soldiers, had vanished from the public record. "Nobody has reached out yet. Well, I kind of don't have words for that," she said, her voice trembling.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed on social media Thursday that the names were removed due to "a temporary data disruption." Parnell also criticized The New York Times for reporting on the matter, calling the story "completely fake."
When asked by CNN on Friday why the casualty numbers in the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) had not been corrected and if the issue would be resolved, the Pentagon did not immediately provide a response. Earlier in the week, Parnell had acknowledged that nearly 100 service members had been injured since July 7, with dozens of these injuries not reflected in the DCAS at that time. The conflict has resulted in the deaths of at least 18 U.S. service members.
Gonzalez-Swinton shared poignant memories of her husband, describing him as "goofy" and quick with jokes, but also highly respected for his professional knowledge. "When he spoke, people wanted to listen, because he knew what he was talking about," she recalled. At home, she said, he was a devoted and loving father to their young daughter, whom he treated like "a big teddy bear."
She met Sgt. Swinton while both were serving at Ford Hood in Texas. Their relationship quickly deepened, and they were later stationed together in Bahrain. Swinton died during a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone at the Erbil Air Base in Iraq. Gonzalez-Swinton described her late husband as handsome, funny, and protective, making her feel safe and cared for.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump commented on the deaths of U.S. soldiers last week, stating before a ceremony honoring Swinton and the other fallen service members that they had expressed a strong desire to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Critics have condemned this assertion as "repulsive."