Fairchild airman among 10 killed

A Spokane-based airman and nine other U.S. service members died when a pair of Marine Corps helicopters crashed off the coast of Africa, U.S. military officials confirmed Sunday.

Senior Airman Alecia S. Good, 23, of Fairchild Air Force Base was on board one of two CH-53E choppers carrying a dozen crew and troops from a U.S. counterterrorism force that went down during a training flight Friday in the Gulf of Aden, near the northern coastal town of Ras Siyyan in Djibouti.

Good was assigned to the 92nd Communications Squadron at Fairchild, as a tactical radio operator/maintainer. She was deployed to Djibouti on Feb. 8 as part of the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, a Fairchild spokeswoman said.

Good has called Fairchild her home for the past four years, but her hometown is listed as Broadview Heights, Ohio, said Maj. Carol Gering with the Fairchild public affairs unit.

“That’s where she entered the Air Force; that’s her home of record,” Gering said.

According to Spokane birth records, a woman named Alecia Good leaves behind a 2-year-old daughter.

The aircraft and eight Marines were from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 464, based at Marine Corps Air Station New River in North Carolina. Another airman from Virginia was also killed.

Two crew members who were rescued were taken in stable condition to the U.S. military’s Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

“We were devastated,” said Marine Corps 1st Lt. Paul Tremblay, who is based at Camp Lejeune, the huge post on the Atlantic Ocean that’s next to the New River air station. “It hits us very hard as Marines when we lose anyone.”

“The remains of the eight Marines and two airmen were sent back to the United States on Sunday, task force spokeswoman Maj. Susan Romano told the Associated Press by telephone from Djibouti.

Military officials were investigating why the aircraft went down in shallow water. They said there was no indication of hostile fire, and visibility was good with light wind.

The Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa is responsible for fighting terrorism in nine countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Somalia in Africa and Yemen. U.S. officials say the region has been used by terrorists as a place to hide, recruit operatives and stage attacks.