There are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, wives, and children whose dreams have been shattered.

Rest easy heroes, we have the watch.

Navy.mil


CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (NNS) -- Thirty Marines and one Sailor from the 1st Marine Division and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing of the I Marine Expeditionary Force died Jan. 26 when their CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter crashed near Ar Rutbah in the Al Anbar Province while conducting security and stabilization operations.

All Marines, Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen of the I Marine Expeditionary Force mourn the tragic loss of our brothers in arms.

A recovery team is at the crash site, and the cause of the crash is currently under investigation.

The names of the deceased are being withheld pending next of kin notification.

"While we mourn the loss of these heroes, we will honor their sacrifice by continuing our mission to bring democracy to the people of Iraq," said Marine Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, commanding general, I Marine Expeditionary Force. "To the families of these brave men, our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to you at this most difficult of times."

Fuck. Just fuck.

Edit:

It still fucking blows, but it does look like the date is 2005 on the reports/

That's from 2005.

quote:

Originally posted by Kevbo:
Fuck. Just fuck.

I made 4 cruises with the Navy sar detachment on board USS Peleliu. I was present for 1 crash during workups in which the 11th MEU(SOC) lost 4 marines.

I cried with the sar swimmers who couldn't find the USMC pilots or crewmen after spending over 5 hours in the water. They were in the water within minutes of the crash, but it was well after midnight, dark, and choppy. Bert, Andy, Ivan, and Craig swam their hearts out looking at everything that was floating over a wide area.

Naval aviation is so unforgiving. This brings me to tears.

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:
That's from 2005.

Screw me, but still sucks. All I saw was the 1/26

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:
That's from 2005.

Yup ^^^^^^^

A battalion mate of mine from West Point, Stephen Reich, was a night stalker on the Ch-47 that went down as part of Operstion Red Wings. We weren’t friends. He was a few years ahead of me, but I loved watching him pitch for Army baseball, and he recognized me around the battalion area when I was a plebe and he was a cow (junior) from the baseball games. He was already pure class in our interactions.

Much closer to me was my company mate Jimmy Adamouski, who was the first west pointer killed in Iraq. Jimmy was special. I will never get over his death. That’s all I want to say about that.

So, yeah, service members lost in helo crashes are personal

quote:

Originally posted by Sigolicious:

quote:

Originally posted by Kevbo:
Fuck. Just fuck.

I made 4 cruises with the Navy sar detachment on board USS Peleliu. I was present for 1 crash during workups in which the 11th MEU(SOC) lost 4 marines.

I cried with the sar swimmers who couldn't find the USMC pilots or crewmen after spending over 5 hours in the water. They were in the water within minutes of the crash, but it was well after midnight, dark, and choppy. Bert, Andy, Ivan, and Craig swam their hearts out looking at everything that was floating over a wide area.

Naval aviation is so unforgiving. This brings me to tears.

One of my high school classmates was the maintenance NCO at one of the -53 squadrons, even back in '10, he was saying maintenance and part replacement were a challenge. Those 53E's have been run hard, and probably the most heavily used aircraft in the entire DoD inventory. The K-model replacement can't come fast enough.

I’ve lost two classmates in 53s.

1LT David Pimple - crashed in a CH-53E near P'ohang, South Korea on March 20, 1989. Seventeen other Marines and a Navy corpsman were also killed. Suspected engine problem...

CDR Kevin Bianchi - crashed in a MH-53E near Sigonella in eastern Sicily July 16, 2003. 3 crew members died with him. Kevin’s older brother died in a HH-46 crash near Subic Bay in 1987.

I was a passenger in a CH-53E that landed on the IOWA off Cape Wrath, Scotland (North Sea) one January - 35’ waves, and the helo has to land basically at an angle to fit on the flight deck. Possible the scariest moment in my Navy career.