9 Army IDs killed after Black Hawks collide while training at Fort Campbell

The nine Army soldiers killed Wednesday when two Black Hawk helicopters collided mid-air during nighttime training exercises were between 23 and 36 years old, the service said Friday.

All nine were members of the 101st Airborne Division and were training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky when the tragic crash occurred.

“This is a time of great sadness for the 101st Airborne Division. The loss of these soldiers will ripple through our formations for years to come,” said Major General JP McGee, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell.

The Army identified the soldiers as follows: Warrant Officer 1 Jeffery Barnes, 33, of Milton, Fla.; Cpl. Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos, 23, of Austin, Texas; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Zachary Esparza, 36, of Jackson, Missouri; sergeant. Isaacjohn Gayo, 27, of Los Angeles.; Staff Sgt. Joshua C. Gore, 25, of Morehead City, North Carolina; Warrant Officer 1 Aaron Healy, 32, of Cape Coral, Fla.; Staff Sgt. Taylor Mitchell, 30, of Mountain Brook, Alabama; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Rusten Smith, 32, of Rolla, Missouri; and the sergeant. David Solinas Jr., 23, of Oradell, New Jersey.

The four soldiers piloting the two Black Hawks were Esparza, Smith, Barnes and Healy, according to the military.

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All of the deceased were emotionally memorialized in heartbreaking tributes across the country on Friday.

A college professor remembered Smith as driven and ambitious.

“What a great kid. What a tragedy,” Busby said by phone from his home in St. James, Missouri, the small town where Smith grew up. “I’ll be honest, I cried — what a shame.”

Solinas – one of the two youngest people killed in the crash – was a dedicated flight doctor, his brother Adrian said in a statement.

“We are a loyal family and we are proud that David trained to save soldiers on the battlefield,” he said. “Being a flight doctor is one of the toughest jobs you can do and shows that David was a man of compassion and faith.

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North Carolina pastor Time Gore posted on Facebook that his “precious son” Gore leaves behind a pregnant wife.

“My son and his precious wife have been expecting and he is a boy,” the pastor revealed of his daughter-in-law Hailey Gore and the child she is expecting “in about 6 months.”

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear ordered flags on state buildings to be flown at half-mast from sunrise Saturday to sunset Monday in honor of the nine victims.

The soldiers – five on one of the helicopters and four on the other – were carrying out a “planned training exercise” which involved the use of night vision goggles when they crashed to the ground.

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The accident happened during the flight and not during a medical evacuation drill, said Brig. General John Lubas, deputy commander of the 101st Airborne.

A witness noted that the plane was flying “quite low” over local houses when they collided.

Photos from the scene showed a huge ball of flame as rescuers rushed to the destroyed HH-60 Blackhawk helicopters.

All nine people on board were pronounced dead at the scene. No civilians were injured in the accident.

It was unclear why the helicopters collided, given the clear visibility and light wind, and neither pilot made a distress call.

An Army Air Safety Team from Fort Rucker, Alabama, was on the scene Friday to investigate the fatal crash.

With post wires