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News Specialist Jed Boal reporting"WHETHER IT'S APACHE, BLACKHAWK, OR ANY OF THE AIRFRAMES...THERE'S A KINDRED SPIRIT AMONGST US ALL AVIATORS."
A solider from Utah is among four men who died in a helicopter crash during a training mission in Kuwait.
The Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a night mission in the Kuwaiti desert.
Today, the Army released the names of the four men aboard who died, one of them a native of West Valley City.
The pilot grew up in West Valley, still has family there, and was stationed in Europe.
He was deployed to Kuwait as part of the Fifth Corps, poised for a possible attack on Iraq.
32-year-old Chief Warrant Officer John Daren Smith was know as J-D to his friends.
He was stationed in Aviano, Italy for the past three years, but was part of the build-up in the Persian Gulf.
The UH-60 Black Hawk was on a night training exercise in the Northern Kuwaiti desert when the helicopter crashed around one o'clock Tuesday morning Kuwaiti time about 30 miles northwest of Kuwait City.
It went down in bad weather. A powerful sandstorm and high winds whipped across the desert.
Instruction Pilot Dante Fontenot flew in Desert Strom. He says a combination of night vision goggles and low visibility are common.
The Army is investigating the cause of the crash. Another helicopter was flying the same exercise, and was not involved. There is no indication of any enemy fire.
Black Hawk pilots usually wear night vision goggles. Most are as capable at night as during the day.
Fontenot says all pilots feel it when a helicopter goes down.
In late January, another Black Hawk crash killed all four crew members aboard near Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.
The Germany-based Fifth Corps is part of the 90-thousand troops massed in Kuwait for a possible invasion of Iraq.
Chief Warrant Officer Smith leaves behind a wife and two daughters.
Family members tell us they are returning from Europe to be with the rest of the family.
