Following a tragic training accident Wednesday, the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, has released names of the nine victims who died in the Black Hawk helicopter crash.
“This is a truly tragic loss for these families, our Division and Fort Campbell,” said Brig. Gen. John Lubas of the incident. “Our number one priority is caring for the families and the soldiers within our combat aviation brigade.”
In a Thursday statement, the 101st said said that the soldiers were participating in a planed training exercise. All of the soldiers aboard the two helicopters died in the crash at approximately 10 p.m. Wednesday. A media release issued late Friday identified the soldiers as:
Warrant Officer 1 Jeffery Barnes, 33, of Milton, Fla.
Cpl. Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos, 23, of Austin, Texas
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Zachary Esparza, 36, of Jackson, Mo.
Sgt. Isaac Gayo, 27, of Los Angeles, Calif.
Staff Sgt. Joshua C. Gore, 25, of Morehead City, N.C.
Warrant Officer 1 Aaron Healy, 32, of Cape Coral, Fla.
Staff Sgt. Taylor Mitchell, 30, of Mountain Brook, Ala.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Rusten Smith, 32, of Rolla, Mo.
Sgt. David Solinas Jr, 23, of Oradell, N.J.
“This is a time of great sadness for the 101st Airborne Division. The loss of these Soldiers will reverberate through our formations for years to come,” said Maj. Gen. JP McGee, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell.
According to the Friday media release, an Army aviation safety team from Fort Rucker in Alabama was on site Friday to conduct an incident investigation.
Per its website, the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) – also known as the “Screaming Eagles” – “is the only air assault division of the United States Army,” and it was established “at one minute after midnight, Aug.
16, 1942.” Last month, 101st units were deployed to Romania, said a press release from the division.
According to a 2020 Connecting Vets report, “troops have died in training accidents at twice the rate that they have died in combat over the last decade and a half,” and, “more service members have died in training accidents than in combat every year since 2015.”
Congress has been working to mitigate these deaths for more than two decades, said the report. In 2021, Stars & Stripes reported that fatal training accidents in the Army had hit a record low and that safety campaigns may have helped reduce the deaths.
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