An airman who was found unresponsive Thursday afternoon after going missing during surface swim training at Naval Support Activity Panama City, Florida, has been identified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Airman First Class Keigan Baker, 24, a Special Tactics combat controller, was taking part in the Air Force Combat Dive Course Thursday when he went missing just after 11 a.m., an Air Force statement confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Search and rescue efforts launched by personnel from Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center, the U.S. Coast Guard Station Panama City, and others recovered Baker\u2019s body at approximately 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a devastating loss to the entire Special Tactics community,\u201d said U.S. Air Force Col. Matthew Allen, commander of the 24th Special Operations Wing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are very grateful for Keigan\u2019s willingness to serve our nation and vow to honor his memory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Baker had been assigned to the Special Tactics Training Squadron, 24th Special Operations Wing out of Hurlburt Field, Florida, the service confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Longview, Washington native enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in June 2018 and was named an honor graduate upon completion of basic training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spot in the Air Force\u2019s illustrious two-year combat control program followed, leading to Baker\u2019s participation in the Special Warfare Pre-Dive school at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland prior to joining the Air Force Combat Dive Course in Panama City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Special Tactics combat controllers are widely renowned for combat reconnaissance, coordinating precision strikes and conducting personnel recovery operations. Graduates of the dive courses are also certified as Special Operations Command combatant divers, the release said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKeigan\u2019s loss is felt across the entire training wing, where the safety of our trainees is our top priority,\u201d said Air Force Col. Parks Hughes, commander of the Special Warfare Training Wing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are grateful to all the agencies that assisted with the search and recovery effort. Our thoughts and prayers are with Keigan\u2019s family, friends and teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Baker\u2019s awards include the Air Force Good Conduct Medal, the Air Force Basic Military Training Honor Graduate Ribbon, the Air Force Training Ribbon and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was also the recipient a bachelor of arts degree from Eastern Washington University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The circumstances surrounding the incident remain under investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":50310,"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":93,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[23,93],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3412],"class_list":["post-24356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-middle-column"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"2JUZ2GIPUNBNLAYII2ZUMYN54A","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-air-force\/2020\/03\/21\/special-tactics-airman-who-died-in-swim-training-incident-identified\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n