Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, a 39-year-old U.S. Army Reserve soldier and mother from White Bear Lake, Minnesota, was killed in an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait just days before she was scheduled to return home to her family. Amor was one of six American service members killed Sunday at Port Shuaiba during the military operation known as Operation Epic Fury. According to her husband, Joey Amor, the news was devastating because she had been so close to coming home. “She was almost home,” Joey told CBS. “You don’t go to Kuwait thinking something’s going to happen, and for her to be one of the first — it hurts.”

The couple had exchanged text messages just hours before the attack, discussing a minor mishap from the night before. When Joey tried to reach her again the next morning, she never responded. Joey later revealed that only a week before the strike, Nicole and other soldiers had been moved off the main base into temporary shipping-container-style buildings that lacked strong defenses. The move was reportedly meant to spread personnel into smaller groups out of concern the main base might be targeted.

Amor served with the Army Reserve’s 103rd Sustainment Command. She joined the National Guard in 2005 as an automated logistics specialist before transferring to the Army Reserve the following year. During her career, she had already completed deployments in both Kuwait and Iraq. Outside the military, Amor was known as a loving mother who enjoyed gardening, cooking, and spending time with her children.

She loved making homemade salsa from vegetables grown in her garden and often went rollerblading or biking with her daughter. Amor is survived by her husband and two children — a high school senior son and a fourth-grade daughter. Her family and community now mourn the loss of a dedicated soldier and devoted mother whose homecoming was heartbreakingly close.