Corps officials identified the Marine killed in a Wednesday helicopter mishap in North Carolina as a Virginia-based staff noncommissioned officer with a\u00a0Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team training for crisis response missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Staff Sgt. Jonathan Lewis, 31, was killed in the hard landing of a CH-53E Super Stallion during a fast-rope training accident, said Col. Jeffrey Kenney, the officer in charge of the Expeditionary Operations Training Group which oversaw the exercise. Lewis, a communications Marine, was a member of FAST Company B, under Marine Corps Security Forces Regiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are deeply saddened at the loss of one of our students and fellow Marine Staff Sergeant Jonathan Lewis,” Kenney said.\u00a0“The training requires the highest caliber Marine with the dedication and the courage to take on the challenge as Staff Sergeant Lewis did.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lewis and all other passengers were still inside the aircraft and not on ropes when the aircraft\u00a0assigned to Heavy Helicopter Squadron 464 out of Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina, made the hard landing at about 9 p.m. at the Stone Bay training area near Camp Lejeune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eleven\u00a0other Marines\u00a0were injured in the incident, including\u00a0two who remain hospitalized in stable condition, said\u00a0Col. Sean Salene, commanding officer of Marine Air Group 29, HMH-464’s parent unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The injured Marines were assigned\u00a0to the Expeditionary Operations Training Group; 1st Battalion, 8th Marines; HMH-464;\u00a02nd Reconnaissance Battalion; and FAST Company B.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Salene said an ongoing investigation into what caused the hard landing could take weeks or months. Investigators\u00a0will include interviews with air crew members, maintainers, air traffic controllers, witnesses, and will examine the possibility of\u00a0environmental factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We owe the family of Staff Sergeant Lewis a complete and thorough investigation,” Salene said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kenney said the loss was tragic, but the training Lewis and other Marines were conducting\u00a0is critical to carrying out crisis response and combat missions. Fast-roping and rappelling\u00a0allows Marines to exit helicopters in confined areas, which could include\u00a0courtyards and\u00a0alleys in urban settings that are too restrictive for helicopters to touch down, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Camp Lejeune officials have identified the Marine killed in a Wednesday helicopter mishap near Camp Lejeuen, North Carolina, as Staff Sgt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":46240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":69,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[12,69],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1058],"class_list":["post-22294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-your-marine-corps"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"AJR3T44765EXNNBJTQ4CBYIDC4","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2015\/09\/04\/marines-identify-staff-sergeant-who-died-in-helo-mishap\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n