A 25-year-old from New Jersey and a 40-year-old from Iowa, both Hawaii Marines, were among six killed Thursday in a CH-53D helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan, family confirmed.
It was the second fatal crash for the Vietnam-era transport choppers — and the second experienced by the same unit, Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 363, the Lucky Red Lions — in less than a year: One of the big, single-rotor Sea Stallions went down March 29 in Kaneohe Bay, killing a Marine.
The Pentagon waits at least 24 hours after next of kin are notified before it releases the names of those killed in combat. Some family members came forward ahead of that release to talk about the loved ones they lost in Afghanistan.
Cpl. Kevin Reinhard, a crew chief, "had a zeal for life that many people could only aspire to," his family said in a statement provided to the Newark, N.J., Star-Ledger newspaper.
"If you knew Kevin, you knew he had a great sense of humor. From being an all-around goofball, to the particular way he would read his birthday cards with the family, dying his hair purple, and planning on wearing a kilt when and if his sister got married in the future," the family said.
Reinhard, from Woodbridge, N.J., joined the Marine Corps in 2008, was on his second deployment and had just a year left on his enlistment.
John Riddick of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, said he was notified early Friday that his son, 40-year-old Master Sgt. Travis Riddick, also died in the Helmand province crash, The Associated Press reported.
He said he wasn’t told details about the crash, only that his son died.
John Riddick told the AP that his son grew up in Centerville and joined the Marines after graduating from Centerville High School in 1990. Travis Riddick had served three tours of duty in Iraq and two in Afghanistan.
John Riddick also said this was to be his son’s last tour.
The commander of HMH-363, Lt. Col. Mark Revor, confirmed on the unit’s Facebook page that all six Marines killed in the helicopter crash were from the Kaneohe-based unit and that all families had been notified.
Also on the unit’s Facebook page was word that the "Red Lion family" would meet at the Marine Corps Base Hawaii chapel Friday evening to address questions or concerns. The gathering was open only to HMH-363 families.
Reinhard’s boyhood dream of being a jet pilot was shelved after his more than 6-foot height made him too tall, but he loved flying, his family said, and he "felt he needed to answer a call to serve his country."
"Descriptions of flying around base in Hawaii, observing the tropical scenery, and whale watching out of the side of his helicopter were all frequent talking points in phone calls home," the family said in the statement.
The family said Reinhard "only had a few short weeks left to his deployment."
"For his family and his friends he was always a hero, before he ever put on a uniform for his country," they said. "The uniform only announced to the rest of the world what a wonderful man, what a wonderful soul he was."
Reinhard is survived by his mother and father, James and Kathleen Rose, and a sister, Kathleen Marie.
The Marine unit deployed in August.
The International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said Thursday the cause of the crash was under investigation, but initial reporting indicated there was no enemy activity in the area at the time.
German Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, a spokesman for the NATO coalition in Kabul, said officials were looking at a "technical fault" as the possible culprit, the AP reported.
It was the deadliest crash in Afghanistan since August, when 30 American troops died after a Chinook helicopter was shot down in Wardak province in the center of the country.
Three CH-53D squadrons are based at Kaneohe Bay — which has all of the remaining Sea Stallions — but the Corps is retiring the aging helicopters. In May the base reported having 32. Now it says there are only about five left in Hawaii and about 11 in Afghanistan.
Most of the choppers are about 40 years old. HMH-363 began flying the Sea Stallion in January 1969.
Riddick, one of the Marines killed in the Afghan crash, was described in a November Marine Corps story as being the squadron’s quality assurance chief and a crew chief and was quoted as saying, "There is nothing that outflies (the Sea Stallion). For everything the Marine Corps has put into this helicopter, we have gotten 10 times out of it."
The Sea Stallion squadron now in Afghanistan was the same unit that lost a crew member in the crash of one of the helicopters March 29 in Kaneohe Bay.
Cpl. Jonathan D. Faircloth, 22, was killed and three other crew members were injured when the 88-foot-long helicopter crashed on the Kaneohe Bay sandbar.
According to a Marine Corps Field Flight Performance Board, the chopper crashed as a result of a "catastrophic mechanical failure."
Faircloth’s father, Dean, who lives in Mechanicsburg, Pa., said primary and backup systems failed.
"It was a hydraulic failure," he said Friday by phone. "So they don’t have control, and then you go to the other system, and that one failed."
Faircloth added that the choppers "are old — the Marines always gave them used equipment. I wish we would have newer stuff, but even the new things would have to be maintained. All aircraft are taken apart completely after so many hours."
His son’s only complaint was it was hard to get parts for the Sea Stallions, "and that’s why they are retiring them — I don’t know if it’s because they are faulty so much."
Another of the Hawaii helicopter squadrons, HMH-362, the "Ugly Angels," was in Afghanistan from August 2010 to March 2011. The unit said on its website that it had achieved 80,000 mishap-free hours flown.
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