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Airmen Killed in Crash Were Special Ops By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
57 minutes ago
The four U.S. airmen who perished Monday in the crash of an Iraqi aircraft were commandos from special operations units based in Florida, the Pentagon disclosed on Wednesday.
Their deaths brought to 20 the number of Air Force members who have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. Nine of the 20 were killed in action; the other 11 were classified as "non-hostile" deaths.
Although the Pentagon has announced no cause for Monday's crash, the Air Force has classified the four deaths as non-hostile.
Killed in the Iraqi aircraft crash were Maj. William Downs, 40, of Winchester, Va.; Capt. Jeremy Fresques, 26, of Clarkdale, Ariz.; Capt. Derek Argel, 28, of Lompoc, Calif.; and Staff Sgt. Casey Crate, 26, of Spanaway, Wash.
An Iraqi pilot also died.
Downs was assigned to the 6th Special Operations Squadron, the Air Force's only unit of combat aviation advisers. It is part of Air Force Special Operations Command, providing training for foreign air force units around the world. Their mission is the air equivalent of the foreign army training mission of the Green Berets.
Fresques, Argel and Crate were assigned to the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, which performs aviation-related missions on the ground, including air traffic control, coordination between ground and air forces, battlefield weather information, combat casualty care and the recovery of personnel from behind hostile lines.
Fresques and Argel had been promoted to the rank of captain the morning of their deaths, according to Lena Lopez, a spokeswoman at Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Fla., where all four men were based.
The only other Air Force special operations airman killed thus far in Iraq was Staff Sgt. Scott D. Sather, 29, of Clio, Mich., of the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, based at Pope Air Force Base, N.C. He was killed in action April 8, 2003, the day before the fall of Baghdad. The circumstances of his death are classified as secret.
