Alabama soldiers sue Iran over deadly 2024 Jordan base attack

Thomas Stinson awoke in his Army bed at the sound of an explosion. Disoriented, he realized he was covered in debris.

As he dug himself out of rubble, he could smell burning flesh, hair and chemicals. He later found out that his base in Jordan had come under attack, according to a lawsuit filed in June. Three people were killed and 40 were injured in the January 2024 strike.

“I was woken up with what sounded like a low rumble,” one officer later told the Air National Guard, “very low and very distinctive. My whole room started vibrating and I thought, ‘That’s not normal.”

Stinson, an Alabama native, was injured in the attack. He and three fellow soldiers from Alabama and Georgia now are suing the Republic of Iran. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia under a U.S. law that allows citizens to sue countries considered to be state sponsors of terrorism.

An attorney for the soldiers declined to comment on the case. The four men received Purple Hearts in May 2025, according to the filing.

Sgt. Allan Padilla Valenzuela, a native of Homewood, Alabama, (second from left) is pictured receiving a Purple Heart after being injured in a 2024 drone attack.Courtesy Jon Goldfarb

American officials said they believed the attack was carried out by a militia group connected to Iran, but Iran has denied responsibility for the 2024 attack. A spokesperson for Iran did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AL.com.

Soldiers killed at Tower 22 belonged to the 718th Engineer Company, an Army Reserve unit based out of Fort Moore, Ga., according to CNN. The attack was the first time United States soldiers were killed amidst escalating attacks following Hamas’s attack on Israel in 2023.

The drone flew into the living quarters, trailers where soldiers were sleeping at about 5:00 a.m.

The housing trailers “crinkled like a soda can”, upon impact, Lt. Ian Gallagher later told an Army publication.

Sgt. Allan Padilla Valenzuela, one of the plaintiffs, is a 2019 graduate of Homewood High School. He was stationed at the base as a horizontal construction engineer. He does not remember the attack that morning, according to the filing. His roommate, Sgt William Rivers, 46, was killed by the impact.

Padilla Valenzuela was intubated at the scene due to respiratory failure, then airlifted out of Jordan and treated for life threatening injuries, according to the lawsuit, including fractures, facial injuries and shrapnel wounds.

He has lost a third of his triceps and has had multiple reconstructive surgeries. He still has shrapnel in his body and struggles from a loss of vision.

Following the explosion, Stinson thought of the other men sleeping around him, other Alabama soldiers living in Tower 22 in Jordan. Stinson got up to help his roommate, not realizing he was hurt.

A 2022 graduate of Elba High School in Alabama, Stinson was told by a medic to go to the bunker, according to the suit.

“It was not until he was in the bunker and adrenalin started to wear off that he realized he was covered in blood and that he was in pain,” the suit states.

The incident left Stinson with a brain injury, a ruptured eardrum, broken wrist and burns across his body, according to the lawsuit. The military now considers him to be 80% disabled.

Stinson’s roommate, Jared McKelvey, a 2016 graduate of high school in Priceville, Alabama, was also an engineer at Tower 22. He woke up following the explosion and was pinned by rubble, according to the lawsuit.

He had shrapnel wounds, burns and a traumatic brain injury, which continue to impact his life, according to the complaint.

Carson Lee Hoes, an engineer from Georgia, had a traumatic brain injury from the attack and is now 70% disabled, according to the complaint.

An Army investigative report into the attack, published by the Washington Post, described security and training failures that resulted in the drone being allowed to approach the base.

At the time of the attack, 350 U.S. troops were stationed at the base, along with Jordanian military members and American and Jordanian civilian contractors, according to the Department of Defense. Tower 22 is a hub for logistics for U.S. forces in Syria and to transfer humanitarian supplies to Syrian refugees.

In the past, Congress has disbursed funds from Iranian sanctions to the families and victims who have sued Iran following terroristic attacks.