Fresh off his return from a deployment in Poland, Army Reserve Capt. Cody Khork was eager to find another assignment overseas with his fiancée. They found that opportunity with the Iowa-based 103rd Sustainment Command, where Khork would serve as deputy force protection officer for nine months at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. 

In February, the couple — along with most other service members stationed at the base — were moved off post in preparation for Operation Epic Fury. While his fiancée was moved out of the country, Khork was among a few dozen specialists moved to a tactical operations center at the Port of Shuaiba.

On March 1, one day into the Iran war, an Iranian Shahed drone struck Khork’s position, killing him and five other American troops.

“I just never thought it would happen,” Jim Khork, Cody’s father, told CBS News.

Jim Khork, along with his wife, Stacey, sat down for an exclusive interview with CBS News to share more about their grief, but also their frustrations about what they consider is a lack of accountability for military shortcomings ahead of the deadly attack. 

The Army confirmed to the Khorks and CBS News that its probe into the deadly Iranian attack was completed in early July, but they have yet to release it.

In a statement to CBS News, an Army spokesperson asked for “patience.”

“The U.S. Army is committed to transparency and respecting the privacy of our Gold Star Families. Out of respect for the primary next of kin, who are currently being scheduled for briefs on the official findings of the completed investigation, we will not comment on specific details, individual accounts, or leaked portions of the report at this time,” the statement said.

The Khorks said Cody, as a force protection officer, had delivered repeated warnings to the unit’s leader, Brig. Gen. Clint Barnes, about the risk that Iran would attack their location, which was roughly 65 miles from the border. Multiple sources told CBS News that Army intelligence warned as early as January that Iran would attack the Port of Shuaiba in a potential war. 

On March 1, while members of the unit holed up in a bunker amid air sirens, Cody’s family said many survivors of the attack and other officers on the ground told them Cody advised Barnes that the unit should remain there, even amid periods of calm.

“The general kept asking Cody to call an ‘all clear,'” his father told CBS News. “A captain can only tell the general ‘no’ so many times.”

Barnes did not respond to multiple requests for comment, while a spokeswoman for the 103rd Sustainment Command directed all questions to the Pentagon.

“My son died unnecessarily,” Stacey Khork added. “Yes, he died for my country. Yes, he was a patriot. Yes, he was a hero. I hate to use the word murder because it’s strong, but if a loved one of yours was murdered, our justice system is built to have accountability and to have atonement for that and for the grief of the family.”

U.S. Army Central and Third Army ordered the Pentagon probe “to determine the facts and circumstances” of the Iranian attack. But before the review was underway, a CBS News investigation began shedding light on what several survivors of the attack described as “strategic failures” ahead of, during and after the strike.

One day after the deadly strike, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described the Iranian drone as a “squirter” — suggesting that the drone managed to slip past the defenses of a fortified unit inside Kuwait. In April, one of the injured soldiers told CBS News that “painting a picture that ‘one squeaked through'” was not accurate. The soldier said the unit was “unprepared to provide any defense for itself. It was not a fortified position.”

More witnesses to the attack told CBS News that military leaders had seen intelligence showing Iran was targeting their position in Kuwait. Those reports sparked an investigation from Senate Democrats. CBS News spoke with other survivors of the blast who detailed requests to leadership for more resources ahead of the strike. Those requests focused on the number of medical personnel as well as the availability and accessibility of medical supplies.

“This was a failure,” Maj. Stephen Ramsbottom said in an interview with CBS News in May, adding he believed Master Sgt. Nicole Amor, another of the six soldiers killed, could have survived her wounds had there been a doctor, a fixed aid station or more than one ambulance at the post. The soldiers, according to witnesses, instead triaged themselves with makeshift bandages, braces and tourniquets. They commandeered civilian vehicles to drive the wounded to two local Kuwaiti hospitals.

The Pentagon has repeatedly pushed back on claims that the Army tried to downplay the incident. In a post on X in March addressing prior CBS News reporting on the strike, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said “every possible measure has been taken to safeguard our troops — at every level” and that “[t]he secure facility was fortified with 6-foot walls.”

At the Khorks’ home, the walls are filled with framed reminders of Cody’s service, including a new, tailored military formal uniform he never had a chance to wear.

At Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, they visit at least once a month to think only of his sacrifice.

“We can speak for our son now,” Jim Khork said. “He can’t do it but we can.”