Story highlights
- Keating was an adviser to Kurdish Peshmerga forces fighting ISIS
- The U.S. responded with F-15s and drones that dropped more than 20 bombs
- The Arizona native came from a long line of devoted service members
(CNN)When a team of less than a dozen U.S. military advisers came under attack in Iraq Tuesday from more than 100 ISIS fighters, Navy SEAL Charles Keating IV was part of the force sent in to rescue them.
All the advisers made it back. Keating, a decorated combat veteran and star athlete who decided to enlist after the 9/11 attacks, did not.
Providing new details Wednesday about the operation that took the life of the grandson of prominent financier and World War II pilot Charles Keating Jr., Coalition spokesman Col. Steve Warren said that the clash between ISIS and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces the advisers were assisting was "a big fight, one of the largest we've seen recently."
Keating's death is the third American combat loss since the U.S. redeployed forces to Iraq in the summer of 2014 to advise local forces and conduct Special Operations missions against ISIS. The 31-year-old Special Warfare Operator 1st Class was on his third tour in Iraq.
Ash Carter: We want to accelerate campaign against ISIS 09:28
ISIS was attempting to capture the Iraqi town of Telskof from the Kurdish forces -- about 3 miles from ISIS' frontline -- unaware that U.S. troops were in the area, according to Warren. ISIS managed to assemble about 125 fighters and 20 vehicles for the assault, destroying a Peshmerga checkpoint as they crossed the frontline and engaged Kurdish troops for more than 12 hours.
"The enemy was able to very covertly assemble enough force, which included the several truck bombs, some bulldozers, and of course their infantry. And they were available to punch through the Kurdish line there" and "sprint" towards their objective, Warren said.
Warren said that the Quick Reaction Force, of which Keating was a part, was able to evacuate the advisers "relatively rapidly within the first couple of hours." But it was during this operation, he noted, that Keating was struck by "direct fire" at 9:32 a.m local time.
Two medical evacuation helicopters were called and able to evacuate Keating -- despite sustaining small-arms fire from ISIS themselves -- within an hour of his being hit, but "his wound was not survivable," Warren said.
Coalition air support including F-15s, A-10s, B-52s and drones also responded to the ISIS offensive by launching 31 strikes, destroying 20 enemy vehicles and killing 58 ISIS fighters, Warren said.
The Peshmerga have since regained control of the town, he added.
Defense Secretary cites 'heroic' actions
Defense Secretary Ash Carter told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in Germany that Keating's death was "tragic" and called his actions "heroic."
He added that Keating's death "shows us this is a risky campaign. .... We will defeat ISIL but there is risk associated with it."
Keating's relatives also used the word hero to describe the fallen soldier.
"He is our family hero in every sense of the word," cousin Elizabeth Ann Keating told CNN.
Keating enlisted in the Navy in February 2007 and graduated from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training in 2008, the Pentagon said in a statement confirming Keating's death.
The Pentagon said he had previously been deployed to Afghanistan and this marked his third tour of Iraq.
Keating had earned numerous awards and decorations including the Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V."
He came from a long line of devoted service members, going back to his namesake, great-grandfather Charles Keating, who served in World War I, and grandfather, Charles Keating Jr., a naval pilot in World War II.
Charles Jr. rose to prominence in the mid-20th century as a lawyer and businessman who made millions in Phoenix real estate before he was implicated in the $150 billion savings-and-loan crisis that fleeced thousands of depositors with the help of U.S. senators. He always insisted he'd done nothing wrong and served time for fraud, racketeering and conspiracy. The verdicts were later overturned and he pleaded guilty on lesser charges. He died in 2014 at age 90.
U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who was implicated in the scandal as a member of the Keating Five but was later cleared of wrongdoing, and daughter Meghan McCain sent their condolences to the family.
"I send my deepest prayers and condolences to the family and loved ones of Charlie Keating who was tragically killed in action fighting ISIL in Iraq," McCain said in a statement, using a different name for ISIS. "Like so many brave Americans who came before him, Charlie sacrificed his life in honorable service to our nation for a cause greater than self-interest, which we can never truly repay."
Keating's distinguished track performance
Keating was mourned in his home state of Arizona and beyond as a star athlete whose transition to military service came as little surprise to those who knew him. Gov. Doug Ducey ordered flags in the state to be lowered to half-staff on Wednesday in his honor.
A 2004 graduate of Arcadia High School in Phoenix, he was city and region champion in the 1,600-meter run as a sophomore, junior and senior, according to Azcentral.com. At Indiana University, he was a member of the 2004-05 track team that finished as a Big Ten runner-up in both the indoor and outdoor seasons, competing in the mile run, the school said in a statement.
His high school track and cross country coach, Robert Wayne Reniewicki, said Keating made the decision to serve his country after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"It didn't surprise me when he said (he) wanted to be a Navy SEAL," Reniewicki told CNN.
He said the attacks happened while Keating and his teammates were on a run during his sophomore year and made an impact.
"You could tell he was a guy who wanted to be the best and find out what he was made of, and serving as special operations forces for his country embodied that," Robert Chapman, professor of kinesiology at IU Bloomington and men's cross country coach from 1998 to 2007, said in a statement.
Photos: The ISIS terror threat
People flee the scene of a terror attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport on June 29. Turkish officials have strong evidence that ISIS leadership was involved in the planning of the attack, a senior government source told CNN. Officials believe the men -- identified by state media as being from Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan -- entered Turkey from the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa in Syria, bringing with them the suicide vests and bombs used in the attack, the source said.
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Photos: The ISIS terror threat
The ISIS militant group -- led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, pictured -- began as a splinter group of al Qaeda. Its aim is to create an Islamic state, or caliphate, across Iraq and Syria. It is implementing Sharia law, rooted in eighth-century Islam, to establish a society that mirrors the region's ancient past. It is known for killing dozens of people at a time and carrying out public executions.
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Photos: The ISIS terror threat
Kurdish Peshmerga fighters fire missiles during clashes with ISIS in Jalawla, Iraq, on June 14, 2014. That month, ISIS took control of Mosul and Tikrit, two major cities in northern Iraq.
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Traffic from Mosul lines up at a checkpoint in Kalak, Iraq, on June 14, 2014. Thousands of people fled Mosul after it was overrun by ISIS.
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ISIS fighters parade down an Iraqi street in this image released by the group in July 2014.
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Aziza Hamid, a 15-year-old Iraqi girl, cries for her father while she and other Yazidi people are flown to safety after a dramatic rescue operation at Iraq's Mount Sinjar on August 11, 2014. A CNN crew was on the flight, which took diapers, milk, water and food to the site where as many as 70,000 people were trapped by ISIS. Only a few of them were able to fly back on the helicopter with the Iraqi Air Force and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.
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Photos: The ISIS terror threat
On August 19, 2014, American journalist James Foley was decapitated by ISIS militants in a video posted on YouTube. A month later, they released videos showing the executions of American journalist Steven Sotloff and British aid worker David Haines.
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Photos: The ISIS terror threat
ISIS militants stand near the site of an airstrike near the Turkey-Syria border on October 23, 2014. The United States and several Arab nations began bombing ISIS targets in Syria to take out the group's ability to command, train and resupply its fighters.
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A Kurdish marksman stands atop a building as he looks at the destroyed Syrian town of Kobani on January 30, 2015. After four months of fighting, Peshmerga forces liberated the city from the grip of ISIS.
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Safi al-Kasasbeh, right, receives condolences from tribal leaders at his home village near Karak, Jordan, on February 4, 2015. Al-Kasasbeh's son, Jordanian pilot Moath al-Kasasbeh, was burned alive in a video that was released by ISIS militants. Jordan is one of a handful of Middle Eastern nations taking part in the U.S.-led military coalition against ISIS.
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Photos: The ISIS terror threat
In February 2015, British newspapers report the identity of "Jihadi John," the disguised man with a British accent who had appeared in ISIS videos executing Western hostages. The militant was identified as Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born Londoner. On November 12, 2015, the Pentagon announced that Emwazi was in a vehicle hit by a drone strike. ISIS later confirmed his death.
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Photos: The ISIS terror threat
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In March 2015, ISIS released video and images of a man being thrown off a rooftop in Raqqa, Syria. In the last photograph, the man is seen face down, surrounded by a small crowd of men carrying weapons and rocks. The caption reads "stoned to death." The victim was brutally killed because he was accused of being gay.
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An Iraqi soldier searches for ISIS fighters in Tikrit on March 30, 2015. Iraqi forces retook the city after it had been in ISIS control since June 2014.
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In May 2015, ISIS took control of Palmyra, Syria, and began to destroy ancient ruins and artifacts. The Temple of Bel is seen here after Syrian forces reclaimed the city in March 2016. ISIS has also destroyed other cultural sites in Syria and Iraq.
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Dead bodies lie near a beachside hotel in Sousse, Tunisia, after a gunman opened fire on June 26, 2015. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed at least 38 people and wounded at least 36 others, many of them Western tourists. Two U.S. officials said they believed the attack might have been inspired by ISIS but not directed by it.
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ISIS also claimed responsibility for what it called a suicide bombing at the Al-Sadiq mosque in Kuwait City on June 26, 2015. At least 27 people were killed and at least 227 were wounded, state media reported at the time. The bombing came on the same day as the attack on the Tunisian beach.
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A man inspects the aftermath of a car bombing in Khan Bani Saad, Iraq, on July 18, 2015. A suicide bomber with an ice truck, promising cheap relief from the scorching summer heat, lured more than 100 people to their deaths. ISIS claimed responsibility on Twitter.
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Two women hold hands after an explosion in Suruc, Turkey, on July 20, 2015. The blast occurred at the Amara Cultural Park, where a group was calling for help to rebuild the Syrian city of Kobani, CNN Turk reported. At least 32 people were killed and at least 100 were wounded in the bombing. Turkish authorities said they believed ISIS was involved in the explosion.
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Spectators at the Stade de France in Paris run onto the soccer field after explosions were heard outside the stadium on November 13, 2015. Three teams of gun-wielding ISIS militants hit six locations around the city, killing at least 129 people and wounding hundreds.
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Law enforcement officers search a residential area in San Bernardino, California, after a mass shooting killed at least 14 people and injured 21 on December 2, 2015. The shooters -- Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik -- were fatally shot in a gunbattle with police hours after the initial incident. The couple supported ISIS and had been planning the attack for some time, investigators said.
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Members of Iraq's elite counterterrorism unit celebrate December 28, 2015, after recapturing the city of Ramadi. The city fell to ISIS in May 2015.
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Two wounded women sit in the airport in Brussels, Belgium, after two explosions rocked the facility on March 22, 2016. A subway station in the city was also targeted in terrorist attacks that killed at least 30 people and injured hundreds more. Investigators say the suspects belonged to the same ISIS network that was behind the Paris terror attacks in November.
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A boy walks past bloodstains and debris at a cafe in Balad, Iraq, that was attacked by ISIS gunmen on May 13, 2016. Twenty people were killed.
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Iraqi government forces patrol in southern Falluja, Iraq, on June 10, 2016. In late June, a senior Iraqi general announced that the battle to reclaim Falluja from ISIS had been won.
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Keating's father, IU alumnus Charles H. Keating III, was a three-time All-American for the Hoosiers in the breaststroke and a four-time Big Ten Champion. Keating III finished fifth in the breaststroke at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, the school said.
"Charlie Keating was a valuable member of the Indiana Athletics community. His father was a decorated All-American and Olympian for the Hoosiers, and their family gave me one of my first coaching jobs in Phoenix," Indiana head swimming and diving coach Ray Looze said. "On behalf of the IU Swimming community, we express our deepest condolences."
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama was briefed on the death.
"Everyone extends condolences to the family of the service member that was killed today in northern Iraq," Earnest said at his daily briefing with reporters, adding that it's a reminder of the risks Americans continue to face even in advisory roles there.