The grieving families of five Marines killed in a helicopter crash during severe storms in California earlier this week said Saturday their deaths were the latest example of needless deaths in the military. Stated.
Father of Sergeant Stephen Langen. Alec Langen, 23, who was the crew chief for the CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter that crashed in the mountains 45 minutes outside San Diego on Tuesday, said his son’s death was the latest in an “incident.” he told the Post. It’s a story all too familiar in military circles.”
“This is probably the only time they wake up their assholes and say, ‘What are we doing to our military?’ We have to stop this,” he said. I did.
The group was returning to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego from Creech Air Force Base outside Las Vegas on Tuesday as unprecedented rain and snow hit California, making flight conditions dangerous and unstable.
Officials said Thursday that an investigation into the cause of the crash was underway, but Bradford Moulton, the uncle of victim Capt. Benjamin Moulton, 27, said he wondered why his nephew and his fellow Marines He questioned whether he was in the air during the “Millennium Storm.”
“These are Marines, flying through bad weather, doing what they’re supposed to do…but I wish the operations officer had kept them on the ground,” he said Saturday. .
The fatal accident occurred about three months after five Army special operations soldiers were killed when their helicopter crashed in the Mediterranean Sea during an aerial refueling exercise.
Eight Air Force special operations personnel were also killed in a crash off the coast of Yakushima on their way to Okinawa during a training exercise in November.
The following month, a Marine was killed and 14 others injured in a collision between amphibious fighting vehicles. Rollover during training at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton Just north of San Diego.
Aviation experts have previously said the severe weather conditions likely contributed to the helicopter crash, which also claimed the life of Capt. Jack Casey, 26, a private. . Donovan Davis and Captain Miguel Nava.
“Not only did it not have to happen, it shouldn’t have happened,” said Davis’ father, Gregory, 53, a retired naval flight officer.
Relatives of the grieving Marines all said their relatives joined the military at a young age and intended to follow in their families’ footsteps.
Stephen Langen, who served as a crew chief in the Marine Corps from 1986 to 1995, flew the same type of helicopter as his son Alec, but said he believed his son Alec was “better”. Told.
Langen recalled Alec saying he only wanted one present before his 17th birthday party.
“The next thing you know, there’s a knock on the door. And a Marine recruiter is standing there,” he said. “All he wanted for his birthday was to sign up for the delayed entry program a year early.”
He said his son died “doing what he loved” and left behind a wife of 21 years, whom he had married just four months earlier.
Gregory Davis said his son has been surrounded by the Navy and Marines since he was born at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington state.
“He was very proud to be a Marine, loved his job, loved what he did,” his father said.
“We are so proud of Donovan and everything he accomplished in his short 21 years.”
His uncle, Benjamin Moulton, told the Post that he aspired to become a jet pilot in the Marine Corps, like his grandfather, who was a Marine Corps pilot and achieved the rank of colonel before retiring.
Moulton was a “very bright kid” who attended the University of Washington fully on an ROTC scholarship and was eventually selected to pilot a helicopter in the military.
“He was going to be a Marine Corps pilot no matter what,” said his proud uncle.
Maj. Gen. Michael J. Borgschulte, commander of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, previously said that the Marines killed in the helicopter crash “served a mission greater than themselves and were proud of that mission.” We will be forever grateful for their call to duty and selfless service. ”
The newspaper has contacted the Marine Corps for comment. Casey and Nava’s families could not be reached.
