Camp Lejeune Marine killed in Kabul posted on social media 'I love my job' days before death
Officials released the name on Saturday of a Marine who was killed in the attack at the airport in Kabul.
Sgt. Nicole Gee, who was assigned to the Combat Logistics Battalion 24, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, II Marine Expeditionary Force, in Camp Lejeune, died at 23. She was from Sacramento, Calif.
A post from her Instagram page features a photo of her holding a baby in Kabul. "I love my job," she wrote.
Her instagram shows she was recently promoted to Sergeant.
In an interview with WRAL News, Gee's sister, Misty Fuoco, said Gee joined the Marines because of her husband, who's also a Marine. A fondness to help others guided Gee, who got into the service after high school.
"She would say things like 'this stuff's amazing. I love what I'm doing," said Fuoco. "Things like 'I can't wait to tell you more when I get back home.'"
"I can tell she was absolutely determined and motivated and in love with what she was doing."
In reference to the photo of Gee holding the baby, Fuoco said their mother always called Gee "a little mom" and that she was "always very motherly and caring."
Friends also wrote heartfelt sentiments on social media.
"I find peace knowing that she left this world doing what she loved. She was a Marine’s Marine," her friend, Mallory Harrison, wrote on Facebook. "She cared about people. She loved fiercely. She was a light in this dark world. She was my person."
A GoFundMe set up by Fuoco says her family will "forever be changed and forever hurt with her absence."
The GoFundMe has raised more than $2,000 for funeral expenses.
Fuoco says she leaves behind a husband, who is also a Marine.
"I know she wouldn’t have had it any other way, she absolutely loved the work she was doing in Afghanistan and was excited to tell me more about it once she was back home," Fuoco wrote.
Additionally, a soldier with North Carolina ties was killed in the suicide bombing in Afghanistan on Thursday. Ryan Knauss, 23, served in Fort Bragg's 1st Special Forces Command. Knauss was a Knoxville, Teneessee native.
