‘Night Stalkers’ honor state soldier who lost his life

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. – Each building in the highly restrictive and heavily guarded compound of the “Night Stalkers” pays honor to a fallen comrade.

Each died on secret missions in foreign lands like Somalia or during dangerous training at home.

On Wednesday, Maj. Curtis Feistner became the latest member of the elite 160th Special Operations Aviation to have a building posthumously named in his honor.

During an emotional outdoor ceremony, a plaque was unveiled with his name that will be displayed at Feistner Hall at Fort Campbell.

The name of Spc. Robert Lund, of Centralia, Wash., also was added to a black marble monument honoring 160th members killed since the unit’s formation in 1981.

Lund was killed in March during a training exercise over water. He was the 61st member of the 160th to die on duty.

Feistner, a White Bear Lake, Minn., native, was among eight Night Stalkers killed on Feb. 22, 2002, during a helicopter crash while conducting counterterrorism exercises over water in the Philippines.

“We miss our brothers, our comrades,” said Chaplain Terry Austin, during a prayer.

The 160th in an elite aviation unit deployed in nearly every conflict since Grenada in 1983 to transport Special Forces units around the world by night in specially modified helicopters.

Of the unit’s 2,100 soldiers, 376 are in Afghanistan and Iraq; 30 returned Tuesday from a three-month mission in Haiti.

The unit was formed in 1981 following the botched rescue attempt of hostages in Iran.

It was not until a decade later that the military acknowledged the unit existed.

It specializes in flying over water and using night vision technology, and developed many flying techniques now standard to Army aviators.

About 200 people attended the memorial service Wednesday.