An Army Reserve soldier deployed in support of a military operation in Kuwait is believed to be dead, the Department of War announced — a loss that adds a somber note to an ongoing mission far from home.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, California, is believed to have perished on March 1, 2026, at the scene of an incident in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait. The Department of War confirmed the announcement, noting that Marzan was supporting Operation Epic Fury at the time of the incident.
A Soldier Far From Sacramento
Marzan was assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, based out of Des Moines, Iowa — a unit that, by its very nature, keeps the broader military machine running. Sustainment commands handle the logistics, the supply lines, the unglamorous but essential work that makes everything else possible. At 54, Marzan wasn’t a young recruit. He was an experienced warrant officer, the kind of soldier an Army Reserve unit leans on.
Still, the word “believed” carries weight here. Positive identification of Chief Warrant Officer 3 Marzan has not yet been completed. That determination will be made by a medical examiner, a process that — however clinical it sounds — is the military’s way of ensuring no family receives a final notification without absolute certainty. It’s a protocol born from hard-won institutional experience, and it matters.
What We Know, and What We Don’t
Details surrounding the nature of the incident in Port Shuaiba remain scarce. The Department of War’s announcement does not specify what occurred at the scene, which is not unusual for early-stage notifications of this kind. Port Shuaiba is a port city on Kuwait’s northeastern coast, long used as a logistical hub for U.S. military operations in the region. It’s not a front line in any conventional sense — which, perhaps, makes news like this land a little differently.
Operation Epic Fury, the broader mission Marzan was supporting, has not been extensively detailed in public-facing military communications. What is clear is that Army Reserve soldiers continue to serve in active operational roles well beyond U.S. borders — a reality that often goes underreported until moments like this one.
A Family Waits. A Unit Mourns.
For now, the Army has directed media inquiries to the U.S. Army Reserve Command Public Affairs Office at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Journalists and members of the public seeking additional information can reach the office at [email protected]. Further details are expected as the identification process moves forward.
Robert Marzan was a 54-year-old man from Sacramento who chose, at an age when many are winding down, to keep serving. Whatever the investigation ultimately reveals about March 1st in Port Shuaiba, that part of the story is already written.
