News about 10th Mtn chopper crash

[armyinfmom63]

Tuesday: New Details in Chopper Crash
Tuesday, May 09, 2006, 11:51am
Friday's helicopter crash in Afghanistan that killed 10 Fort Drum soldiers was so violent the helicopter ended up hundreds of feet from its landing zone.

The helicopter "came to rest at the bottom of a ravine approximately 300 feet below the hilltop landing zone," according to a statement from the Combined Forces Command.

In addition, the helicopter burned, according to Tuesday's editions of the Watertown Times.

The crash happened as the helicopter was taking on troops, 10th Mountain Division spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Paul Fitzpatrick said.

Lieutenant Colonel Paul Fitzpatrick said the CH 47 Chinook helicopter had six soldiers aboard as it landed on a mountaintop.

The chopper took on four more soldiers from a group on the ground and then - for reasons still unclear - rolled down the mountain side, Fitzpatrick said.

The crash Friday night was the worst for Fort Drum since March 2003, when 11 soldiers were killed in a crash on post.

Officials said the fallen soldiers' next of kin have been notified. However, the names of the soldiers will not be released to the public until Tuesday or - possibly - Wednesday morning.

(Note: The names of the soldiers killed are starting to appear publicly in their hometowns. We'll note them here, and NewzJunky is posting links to stories about the soldiers.)

The first four casualties identified publicly are:

- Sgt. Bryan Allen Brewster, 24, of Victorville, Calif.

- David "J.R." Timmons Jr., 23, of Lewisville, N.C.

- Army Warrant Officer Second Class Christopher Donaldson, 28, Effingham, Illinois

- Staff Sergeant Chris Howick, from Hamburg, NY

Carlos Saenz of Henderson, Nevada was identified Monday as being in the crash. However, a Fort Drum spokesman told 7 News no one by that name was on board the copter.

A Las Vegas, Nevada television station reported Saenz died in the crash, based on information from family members.

It took two days to recover all the bodies, a job that was not finished until Sunday, Fitzpatrick said.

(Our picture is a file picture, taken from training at Fort Drum earlier this year.)

The soldiers were taking part in an offensive to root out Taliban and al-Qaida militants in Afghanistan.

Additional aircraft and crews were also at the landing zone and confirmed that enemy forces did not cause the crash, the military said.

The crash occurred in Kunar province about 150 miles east of the capital. The site was said to be so remote it could not be reached by vehicle.

The crash took place at 14,000 feet. Only Chinook helicopters can operate at that altitude.

The police chief of Kunar province, General Abdul Ghafar, said the helicopter crashed about 10 miles northeast of the US base in Asadabad. He said the crash site was a day's walk from any passable road.

"Our hearts and prayers go out to the families and comrades of the soldiers who were involved in this crash," said Major General Benjamin Freakley, the 10th Mountain Division commander who is commanding the combined task force in Afghanistan.

[SSGMike.Ivy]

RIP Soldiers.

[ClutterbusterNY]

Carlos Saenz wasd killed in Iraq, per the announcement at this link:

http://news.soc.mil/releases/06%20MAY/060509-01.html

Rest in Peace all of these brave Heroes.

[AngelBear]

Rest In Peace Soldiers

[Donald]

Rip

[Grimmy]

Rest in Peace Soldiers

[Spitfire101]

Rest in Peace Soldiers

[armyinfmom63]

Fort Drum services to honor soldiers killed in Afghanistan copter crash


By Joseph Giordono, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, May 12, 2006




Memorial services have been scheduled in New York by two Fort Drum units after the Pentagon identified the 10 soldiers killed in a Chinook crash last week in Afghanistan. The soldiers were assigned to the 10th Mountain Division’s 71st Cavalry Regiment and the 3rd Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment.

According to the Pentagon, those killed were: Lt. Col. Joseph J. Fenty, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Eric W. Totten, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Christopher B. Donaldson, Staff Sgt. Christopher T. Howick, Sgt. Bryan A. Brewster, Sgt. John C. Griffith, Sgt. Jeffery S. Wiekamp, Spc. Justin L. O’Donohoe, Spc. David N. Timmons Jr., and Pfc. Brian M. Moquin Jr.

The soldiers died May 5 when an Army Chinook fell into a ravine during a mountaintop landing in Kunar province, military officials have said. Two memorial services were planned for Thursday and Friday at Fort Drum.

Fenty, 41, of Watertown, N.Y., was 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment commander. Fenty became a commissioned officer in June 1986 after graduating from Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C., according to The Associated Press. He is survived by his wife, a daughter and his parents.

Totten would have turned 35 this week and was on his second tour in Afghanistan, according to the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press.

“I never really worried about him because he was so intelligent and competent and because he wasn’t cocky,� his brother, Noel Totten, told the newspaper. “I worried about the younger ones, the 19- and 20-year-olds, but not Eric.�

Eric Totten joined the Army after high school and had recently been part of the 101st Airborne Division.

“They were always training and promoting him. He was always excited about his next new challenge. They gave him a lot of pats on the back,� Noel Totten said.

Donaldson, 28, a native of Effingham, Ill., was co-pilot of the Chinook, his mother told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“At different times, I’d talk to him and ask him if he loved it, and he said he’d never give it up,� Lynne Donaldson told the paper. “He was going to be a career military man.�

Effingham, a city of about 12,000, had just hosted a parade for 80-plus Army National Guard troops who had returned from Iraq; the town reveled in the fact that none of its troops had been killed on that tour. Two days later, news of Donaldson’s death changed that mood.

“It’s pretty devastating,� Effingham County Board member Don Althoff told the Post-Dispatch. “Most people were relieved that the whole company made it home, and then a couple days later we learned we lost someone.�

Howick, 34, was a native of Hamburg, N.Y. According to the Hamburg Sun, he was a 1990 graduate of Hamburg High School and had recently been assigned to the 10th Mountain Division after serving at Fort Rucker in Alabama.

He is survived by a wife and daughter.

Brewster, from Fontana, Calif., had celebrated his 24th birthday a week before his death. In fact, reported the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Brewster had enlisted shortly after high school and celebrated his 21st birthday in Afghanistan and his 22nd in Iraq.

He had married his high school sweetheart and was the son of the paper’s sports editor.

Brewster’s family remembered him as a “vibrant, fun-loving individual with a sparkling personality and unbeatable charisma.�

Griffith, 33, was a native of Las Vegas. No further information was available as of Thursday.

Wiekamp was a native of South Dakota, but had family in Texas. His wife, Ashley, is currently deployed to Iraq, according to the Houston Chronicle. Wiekamp, 23, enlisted in August 2001 and deployed to Afghanistan in February, military officials said.

O’Donohoe, 27, was a cavalry scout assigned to the 71st.

“I’m a husband. I’m supposed to take care of her, but I can’t do anything to help her tears because they are mixed with mine,� Pat O’Donohoe, Justin’s father, said about his wife in an interview with the News 10 channel in New York.

“He hated sitting around on base. He liked being in the field. He wanted to be out there doing the grown-up summer camp stuff.�

Timmons, 23, was from Lewisville, N.C., and is survived by his parents and sister. According to the Raleigh News & Observer, the last time David Timmons Sr. saw his son was in January, right before his Afghanistan deployment began.

“He shed a few tears, but they were strong tears,� Timmons told the paper. “He understood the game of war.�

“The troops were loading back into the helicopter and somehow, the helicopter lost its hover,� Timmons said he was told by the military. “Somehow, maybe because of the wind, one of the blades hit a tree and the helicopter fell 200 feet.�

Moquin, 19, was a Worcester, Mass., native and was on his first overseas deployment in the Army.

Moquin’s mother, Tracy Vaillancourt, was on a business trip Sunday morning when a cell phone call told her of his death.

“He was too young,� Vaillancourt told the Worcester Telegram and Gazette. “He just wanted to do something to make everybody proud. I’m very proud of him.�



Three More Drum Soldiers Killed
Thursday, May 11, 2006, 5:21pm


Three more soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division died Thursday.

The deaths - in Iraq - came less than a week after a helicopter crash in Afghanistan that killed ten 10th Mountain Division soldiers.

The soldiers were all from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, and were all killed by roadside bombs in the Baghdad area.

During a press briefing Thursday morning, 10th Mountain commander Major General Benjamin Freakley went out of his way in his opening remarks to note that the soldiers were not from 1st Brigade and not from Fort Drum.

After a report to the contrary, a public affairs official at Fort Drum told 7 News Thursday afternoon that the soldiers were from the 1st Brigade.

Rest in Peace Soldiers, what a terrible tragedy for the 10th MTN.