NEW: Soldier Aboard Chopper Involved In Midair Collision Has Been Identified

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The U.S. Army has identified the female soldier who was aboard the doomed Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into an American Airlines flight outside Reagan National Airport earlier this week. All three black hawk crew members, as well as all 64 passengers and crew members about the American Airlines flight, were killed in the collision.

Captain Rebecca M. Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina, has been identified as the third crew member, the Army confirmed in a statement. Lobach was assigned to the 12th Aviation Battalion in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and had served since July 2019. Her identity had initially been withheld upon request from her family, the statement added.

The decision to release her name came “at the request of and in coordination with the family,” the Army said. “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Rebecca. She was a bright star in all our lives,” Lobach’s family said in a statement of their own.

“Rebecca was a warrior and would not hesitate to defend her country in battle … Rebecca was many things. She was a daughter, sister, partner, and friend. She was a servant, a caregiver, an advocate. Most of all she loved and was loved. Her life was short, but she made a difference in the lives of all who knew her,” the family’s statement added.

A native of Durham, North Carolina, Lobach enlisted in the North Carolina Army National Guard while she was attending college in 2018, a friend, 1st Lt. Samantha Brown, told CBS News. After attending Sewanee: The University of the South, where she played basketball, Lobach transferred to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she completed a degree in biology in 2019 as a distinguished military graduate, Brown told the outlet.

When she enlisted in the National Guard, she participated in a Simultaneous Membership Program that allows cadets to take part in both the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and the National Guard at the same time.

Lobach, 28, was a highly experienced and decorated aviator whose accolades included the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Army Service Ribbon.

She also served as a White House social aide, Brown said. Just last month, she escorted Ralph Lauren through the White House when he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Biden.

Lobach poses for a photo in the White House briefing room
Photo: Samantha Brown via CBS News

The other two soldiers aboard the doomed aircraft have been identified as Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland, and Staff Sergeant Ryan O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia, who was the aircraft’s crew chief.

The bodies of two of the three fallen soldiers have been recovered from the wreckage of the Black Hawk helicopter, a law enforcement official familiar with the recovery efforts told CBS News. The source added that the bodies — a man and a woman — were recovered sometime Friday.

The Black Hawk was operating out of nearby Fort Belvoir in Virginia and was participating in a training mission at the time of the crash, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced confirmed earlier this week. “A routine annual retraining of night flights on a standard corridor for a continuity of government mission. The military does dangerous things. It does routine things on a regular basis,” Hegseth said Thursday.

Both the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are conducting investigations into the cause of the crash,

RELATED: U.S. Athletes, Coaches Among Those On Crashed American Airlines Plane 

Source
Las Vegas News Magazine

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