STEAD, Nev. –
Last Thursday marked the 20th anniversary since the Nevada National Guard lost two Soldiers — five total killed — in the worst helicopter crash in Nevada Army Aviation history.
A ceremony was held Thursday at the Nevada National Guard’s Army Aviation Support Facility in Stead, north of Reno, to remember CH-47 Chinook aircrew killed in Afghanistan two decades ago.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 John Flynn and Sgt. Patrick Stewart died on Sept. 25, 2005, when their CH-47 Chinook helicopter, Mustang 22, was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade while flying over Afghanistan. Warrant Officer Adrian Stump and Sgt. Tane Baum, both with the Oregon National Guard, and Sgt. Kenneth Ross, of Arizona, active duty U.S. Army, were also killed in the crash.
Flynn and Stewart were the second and third Nevada Guard Soldiers to die while fighting the Global War on Terrorism. The first was Spc. Anthony Cometa, who was killed three months earlier in a rollover accident on June 16, 2005, in Iraq.
During their 2005 deployment in Afghanistan, the Mustangs were assigned to Task Force Storm and flew operations throughout the region. On the morning of Sept. 25, 2005, Mustang 22 led a deliberate assault team of three CH-47 Chinooks, two AH-64 Apache and two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters into the mountains in search of Taliban insurgents.
About 180 miles outside of Kabul, Afghanistan, Mustang 22 reached its destination and unloaded a company of 173rd Airborne Brigade Soldiers. Shortly after takeoff, Mustang 22 was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade and crashed, killing all five on board.
Nevada Army Guardsmen killed in Mustang 22 crash
Flynn was born and raised in Reno and enlisted with the Nevada National Guard’s 1150th Medical Detachment (Air Ambulance) before graduating from Reno High in 1987. In 1992, he graduated from aviation pilot training at Fort Rucker, Alabama and returned to the unit as a pilot. As recognition for his flight skills, Flynn was selected to attend the CH-47 instructor’s pilot course in 2001.
Stewart was also a Reno native and graduated from Washoe High in 1989. He later enlisted with the active duty Army as a medium helicopter mechanic and subsequently joined the Nevada Army Guard in 2002.
During their deployment, 18 of the Mustang’s helicopters sustained damage during combat operations. The unit completed 159 air assault missions, 259 quick reaction force missions, 320 medical evacuations and 1,015 combat service support missions. The Mustangs flew 6,799 combat hours, pumped more than 3 million gallons of fuel, and transported more than 10 million pounds of cargo and 47,000 passengers.
Remembering lives lost
In 2010, the Nevada National Guard dedicated a memorial to the Soldiers of Mustang 22 at the AASF in Stead. One side of a large granite plaque bears the names and short biographies of each Soldier, while the other displays a large Chinook helicopter and the words, “In Memory of Mustang 22.” The memorial’s outer wall measures 60 feet in circumference, which is the same length as a Chinook’s rotors, and the inner wall measures 22 feet in circumference in honor of the helicopter’s name. A set of clock hands point to 0305Z, or 7:35 a.m. — the time Mustang 22 was shot down.
Last year, donations to the Mustang 22 Memorial Foundation and local businesses helped create a Chinook display at the sight. A Nevada Army Guard Chinook helicopter, like the one shot down in Afghanistan in 2005, was placed on a display prop near the memorial. Pellett Construction, of Reno, donated time, and materials to the cause, along with a dozen other contractors.