Marine Nicole Gee, 23, sent messages to her sister before she was killed in a bomb attack in Kabul.
Gee was one of the 13 US troops who tragically died in the blast at the airport alongside 170 Afghans who were desperate to flee their country.
In an interview with Daily Mail, her sister Misty Fuoco said her sister would send her messages regularly to tell her about her ‘amazing’ job.
“She knew there were risks but she was fearless – nothing would stop her from continuing to help and do what she was doing,” Misty said.
“She was a big advocate of positive mental health and helping others and she was just absolutely thrilled with the work she was doing in Afghanistan.
“She and I didn’t get to communicate as much as we did before she was deployed but when she did, she would let me know (she was safe).”
“Her words were, ‘I love it. I’m so amazed by everything here’. She couldn’t wait to tell me more about it. There was so much happiness and passion in what she was doing,” Misty continued.
In a text sent to Misty before the attack, Gee wrote: “Don’t be scared either! There’s a lot in the news lately… But there’s a LOT of Marines and soldiers going to provide security.
“We’ve been training for this evacuation and it’s actually happening so I’m excited for it. Hopefully it’s successful and safe. I love you!!!”
Misty said she was nervous about her sister going to Kabul. “When we did get to talk to each other, I was like a broken record – ‘stay safe, I love you, stay safe, I love you’ – and she said she was just happy to be there, doing her job. That she wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.”
Her last messages were all about her husband Marine Jarod Gee, 25, who was visiting Citrus Heights when the bomb went off.
“Yesterday morning, my brother-in-law got a phone call with the news. He lives in North Carolina, and I live in California but he happened to be visiting this week, so he was at a hotel when he found out. He came over and gave me the news in person.
“I just stood still, speechless, processing. Thinking, no way. That’s not what you just said. Then you think, well he wouldn’t just say that as a joke or just to say that.
“You wait for the second phone call that says so sorry for the terrible mix up but there isn’t any mix up and what happened, happened.
“Still, it’s been a little over 24 hours now and it’s still just as hard to understand as it was yesterday morning. You take it one moment at a time, one thought at a time.”
Misty said that her heart ‘dropped’ when she heard about the attack on Thursday.
“I knew there was a chance because I had read [the explosion] was near Front Gate and I knew that’s where she was working,” she told Daily Mail.
“She was working with the women and children at the front gate who were looking to peacefully evacuate.
“When I first heard, my heart dropped but I was hoping for the best and hoping for better news.
“But I did know that there was a possibility that she was one of 13 members of our military who have made the ultimate sacrifice.”
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