The Wisconsin Air Natonal Guard identified the pilot killed in an F-16 Fighting Falcon crash on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Capt. Durwood \u201cHawk\u201d Jones, 37, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, lost his life when his F-16 crashed in Michigan\u2019s Upper Peninsula Dec. 8, according to a post on the wing\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jones joined the Air National Guard in 2011 and graduated from F-16 basic qualification training in 2015, according to the post. He is a decorated combat veteran, deploying as a part of a United States Pacific Command Theater Support Package to Japan in 2015 and to Korea in 2017. He deployed again in support of Operation Freedom\u2019s Sentinel to Afghanistan in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jones was awarded two Air Medals with combat \u201cC\u201d devices, which are awarded to individuals who have been personally exposed to hostile action or under significant risk of hostile action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier Friday, 115th Fighter Wing commander Col. Bart Van Roo announced he has grounded flights indefinitely following the crash<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The mishap occurred at approximately 8 p.m. Tuesday in Michigan\u2019s Upper Peninsula. At a press briefing Friday morning, Van Roo told reporters the wing has grounded the wing\u2019s F-16s indefinitely in the wake of the accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is grounded based on what we determine to be a safe time for us to fly again,\u201d Van Roo said. \u201cObviously we conduct a mission that we need to continue, so we are slowly and deliberately looking at all things until we determine that we are safe to fly again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t