An airman has died in Kuwait while deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, the Defense Department announced Thursday.
Chief Master Sergeant Tresse Z. King, 54, of Raeford, North Carolina, died Aug. 3 in a noncombat-related incident at Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait, according to a DoD news release. The incident is under investigation.
King was assigned as squadron superintendent of the 96th Force Support Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, where she had served since October 2019. She arrived in Kuwait in January, according to Eglin spokesperson Ilka Cole.
She had served in the Air Force for about 30 years at the time of her death. According to the University of Colorado at Boulder, King was promoted to chief master sergeant in 2016 by her daughter Jecia Anderson and son George King during a collegiate basketball halftime show.
Prior to Eglin, King was a squadron superintendent at Yokota Air Base, Japan, a superintendent handling manpower and personnel issues at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, and various other positions at multiple bases in Texas and South Korea. Her first job with the service in 1992 entailed checking in goods delivered to the now-defunct Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina, according to the 96th Test Wing at Eglin.
Her campaign awards indicate service with NATO and supporting operations in Kosovo, among other missions. She also received four Air Force Commendation Medals, multiple Achievement Medals and Good Conduct Medals.
The 96th Force Support Squadron handles matters of force development, manpower and personnel, airmen and family services, sustainment services and community services under the 96th Test Wing, a major test and evaluation organization for aircraft, weapons and other hardware and software.
This is the third noncombat-related death at Ali Al Salem reported by the Air Force in the past year, after two fatal all-terrain vehicle rollover accidents in September 2020. King’s death also follows that of 55-year-old RED HORSE squadron commander Lt. Col. James Willis, announced June 26, while stationed at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.
