Marines Die In Helicopter Crash During Training In Arizona

7 U.S. Marines were killed Wednesday night during a training exercise in Arizona when 2 helicopters collided, NBC News reports.

CNN and the AP have confirmed the report.

The names of the Marines have not been released.

More from the AP:

Seven Marines were killed in a collision of two helicopters near Yuma, Ariz., during night training exercises, the Marine Corps said Thursday.

Lt. Maureen Dooley with Miramar Air Base in California said the service members with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing were based at Camp Pendleton north of San Diego. The crash around 8 p.m. Wednesday involved an AH-1W "Cobra" and UH-1 "Huey" helicopter, she said.

The aircraft collided in a remote portion of the Yuma Training Range Complex.

"We're still gathering a lot of details as the sun comes up," Dooley said.

It will be at least 24 hours before the Marine Corps releases the names of those killed, she said.

Capt. Staci Reidinger, director of public affairs at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma said earlier Thursday that the crash happened west of the Chocolate Mountains in California, though the exact location hasn't been confirmed.

"It's not in a populated area," she said.

Cpl. Steven Posy with Marine Corps Air Station Miramar said Thursday the weather "was pretty mild last night."

Several accidents have happened in the past year involving Marine Corps training in Southern California.

In September, a helicopter went down during a training exercise at Camp Pendleton, killed the two Marines onboard and set off a fast-moving brush fire at Camp Pendleton.

In August, two Marines were ejected from their F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet as it plunged toward the Pacific Ocean. The two Marines spent four hours in the dark, chilly ocean before they were rescued. Both suffered broken bones but survived.

In July, a decorated Marine from western New York was killed during a training exercise when his UH-1Y helicopter went down in a remote section of Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego.

Another Hornet sustained at least $1 million damage when its engine caught fire on March 30 aboard the USS John C. Stennis during a training exercise about 100 miles off the San Diego coast. Eight sailors, a Marine and two civilians were injured.

A decade ago, in February 2002, a helicopter crash in the Chocolate Mountains in eastern Imperial County, Calif., killed two Camp Pendleton Marines and injured two others. The UH-1N Huey was on a routine training mission in the Naval gunnery range.

The Cobra carries a crew of two, a pilot and gunner, and is considered the Marine Corps' main attack helicopter. The UH-1Y, which is replacing the aging version of the Huey utility helicopter first used during the Vietnam War, carries a crew of one or two pilots, a crew chief and other crew members, depending on the mission.

Comments

[E73Bass]

02:48 AM on 02/25/2012

SAN DIEGO — The Marine Corps has released the names of the seven Marines killed in the deadliest aviation training accident in years.



The dead were listed Friday as Maj. Thomas A. Budrejko, 37, of Montville, Conn.; Capt. Michael M. Quin, 28, of Purcellville, Va.; Capt. Benjamin N. Cerniglia, 31, of Montgomery, Ala.; Sgt. Justin A. Everett, 33, of Clovis, Calif.; Lance Cpl. Corey A. Little, 25, of Marietta, Ga; Lance Cpl. Nickoulas H. Elliott, 21, of Spokane, Wash. and Capt. Nathan W. Anderson, 32, of Amarillo, Texas.



http://www.marine-corps-news.com/2012/02/marines_release_names_of_7...
Tags:

[trron9]

08:32 AM on 02/24/2012

These young warriors train hard in preparation for battle to defend our country and protect our individual freedoms! My prayers go to their families and my thanks goes to all that serve!

[ceylon220]

03:52 AM on 02/24/2012

Rest in Peace, Marines. Your duty has been done.My sympathy goes now to the mothers and family of these Marines-I am sorry for your lose.

Dave.(ex Royal Navy)

[ArmyMedic]

09:34 PM on 02/23/2012

Godspeed, Marines.

[Zion Zion]

09:23 PM on 02/23/2012

This begs for a witty comment, but I can't decide which one to go with:

"Good thing this was just training. If it had been a real war, someone could have gotten hurt."

"This is a good example of what not to do."

"Epic Fail!"

"What's the big deal? Can't they just re-spawn back at base?"

"Gee, I didn't know Arizona and California were at war."

"I blame the gay Sheriff."

[Kindheart101]

01:06 AM on 02/24/2012

Sad, very sad. To make jokes over 7 people losing their lives. Are you aware how many wives and mothers worry about their spouses and children, daily, because they are training and fighting, for you? For your freedom? Have you ever served? Do you have no heart?

I was a military wife for over 30 years, and my son is a Navy Pilot that does this same training. Do you know how much your words hurt me? Think about this before you type your next comment, please.

[marinemom117]

08:39 AM on 02/24/2012

Thank you kindheart101. I am a military mom as well (USMC). Thank you to your husband and son for their service. It amazes me as well the unkind comments. Not only are these soldiers, but they are sons, husbands, brothers and nephews of families who are grieving for their loss; I don't understand where the hostility comes from on these posts.

[Zion Zion]

11:05 PM on 02/24/2012

When you or anyone else is trying to talk your kids out of a career in the military, feel free to use me as an example of the kind of people in America for whom it is not worth fighting and dying.

Seriously. You'll save lives, decrease violence, end empire, increase freedom, and get to have grand kids.

Ol' Zion says, Dat's a win-win, sho nuf'!

[non fiction]

11:43 PM on 02/25/2012

Crude and rude. Please go join the Westboro Baptists and leave us decent people alone. My heart goes out to the families and friends of these pilots. I hope the authorities will do as thorough an investigation of the equipment as they would if this were a commercial airline crash. If the manufacturers were to blame for shoddy equipment, heads must roll.

[ckgall]

08:56 PM on 02/23/2012

my heart goes out to the family's who lost their love ones and fellow marines .keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.

[Imperial Puppy]

08:37 PM on 02/23/2012

Seven more brothers to take watch at heaven's gates.

Godspeed

[Lat24]

08:26 PM on 02/23/2012

To the families, friends and fellow Marines who are left to mourn ... I offer this aged hand to hold and this heart filled with warmth and somber respect. You've kept us safe ..... we'll keep you always in our loving thoughts.

[Kindheart101]

01:10 AM on 02/24/2012

So very, very kind. Being an OLD military wife, and the Mother of a Navy Pilot, Thank you, and Bless you.

[keep it solid]

07:57 PM on 02/23/2012

Sincere condolences to the families and friends of these soldiers.

[sorjuana]

07:39 PM on 02/23/2012

My heart goes out to the family and friends of these dedicated men. I hope they find peace and comfort in the days ahead. A sad time on base today, that's for sure.

[Kindheart101]

08:06 PM on 02/23/2012

Indeed. They will have heavy hearts, and many services. There is a true Brotherhood, and Bond between them. Very nice post.

[modeforjoe]

07:29 PM on 02/23/2012

Let's just hope that they were training for a mission that really had something to do with national security, unlike the efforts the marines have been involved in ever since Viet Nam.

[eljefefx]

12:50 AM on 02/24/2012

I bet you felt clever when you typed that.

[modeforjoe]

06:55 PM on 02/24/2012

It's not about clever. It's about calling out the mercenaries and putting the elective war tar baby on their backs, just as we should do for the leaders who send them into such wars.

Marines would be useful in case of a real national threat. When they are used in cases not approaching that, they are just murderers.

[E73Bass]

12:03 AM on 02/25/2012

Oh just the atrocities of Germany in WWII are the ones worth fighting for. Not the atrocities against citizens of the middle east?

[ShowMeC6]

07:25 PM on 02/23/2012

....fair winds and following seas Marines....Semper Fi!!!!

[Iwannasay]

07:22 PM on 02/23/2012

I am so sorry for the families. And I am so angry that our military or whoever can't do something to make helicopters safe. How many times have they crashed - even the one going after Bin Laden crashed. What is wrong that our smart people in this country can't make something fly w/o crashing. Does the public have to raise the roof over this to get something better manufactured.

[nkdgolf]

08:01 PM on 02/23/2012

I'm guessing you have. Ever flown in a help. They are inherently unsafe. It's not the way they are manufactured.

[nkdgolf]

08:02 PM on 02/23/2012

Sorry, should have said ever flown in a helo. They are inherently unsafe.

[goserenee1]

07:02 PM on 02/23/2012

Our military performs training missions everyday, most are completed safely. My husband always warned me that something could go wrong because sometime in night training when the pilot uses night vision it gets tricky he said he would always get a little prickly feeling in his stomach with the goggles on sitting on the flight deck of the aircraft on landing. These men who do this have a lot of air time so something must have gone very wrong. My thoughts are with the families.

A military widow

[Kindheart101]

07:47 PM on 02/23/2012

Very well spoken. My son is a Naval Strike Pilot, FA18C, and trains at Fallon Naval Air Station regularly. He has been in the Navy for almost 20 years, been in way more bombing raids than he has let me know about, and just returned stateside last year. My son went to his Commanding Officer, at the ripe old age of 28, and asked that he given orders to pilot the FA18C, because it was a solo jet, not like the FA18 he was piloting with a navigator. When his CO asked him why? My son said: "Sir, I was raised in a military family, and I love them dearly. If I go down, I want to go down alone, and not take another families son/daughter with me." When his CO told me that, I cried like a baby. He got his wish 10 years ago. (And I have the gray hair to prove it)

My prayers to all the families, and friends of these brave freedom fighters.
And, God Bless you too my friend.

[goserenee1]

10:41 PM on 02/23/2012

Thank your son for his service from one who knows just what he risks. My husband was Spec Ops in the AF and they are a special breed all a family of their own. We all were very close knit and whenever we lost a family member I always found my way to the wife's side,( after losing my father everyone treated me with kid gloves) but then I was right back there at the sides of the wives with a better understanding. When I lost mine I, well I really lost it, but at his funeral I showed all the strength that I really didn't know I had, his sister was on one side and his brother on the other before they closed his casket I kissed him goodbye, I got up and spoke what I wanted to to our friends the honor guard I found out had a real hard time because of my words and what some of his buddies said, I cried when they gave me the flag and every time some came up to me and told me how much they would miss him. I am know you have worried about your son but I believe God protects all and never takes anyone before their time, at least that is what my husband told me and I hold it true now. I will hold him in my prayers. Take Care R.

[keith1963]

06:32 PM on 02/23/2012

RIP men.