A woman raising two children was among the six U.S. service members killed last week when A.J Military aircraft refueling Participation in the war with Iran crashed in western Iraq.
Technical Sgt. Ashley P. Pruitt, 34, came from a large family in Bardstown, Ky., and was very proud of her military career, her husband, Gregory Pruitt, said Sunday.
“I’ll tell you something brief: In one word, radioactive,” he said in a phone interview, fighting back tears. “If there’s a light in the room, it’s him.”
Survivors include the couple’s 3-year-old daughter and Sgt. Pruitt’s stepson.
Pruitt joined the Army nine years ago and has already been deployed overseas three times. She has approximately 900 combat flight hours and two associate degrees from the Community College of the Air Force.
Most recently, she served with the 99th Air Refueling Squadron from Joint Base Sumter-Smith National Guard in Birmingham, Alabama. She was assistant chief of flight operations and was an instructor in operating the boom on the KC-135, which refuels other aircraft in midair so they can fly longer distances and continue operations without landing.
The plane was supported Operations against Iran Thursday in “friendly” airspace when an unspecified incident occurred involving another aircraft, according to U.S. Central Command. US military officials said the other plane landed safely. The incident is being investigated.
The US Army identified the victims of the accident late on Saturday. Three were attached to Sumter-Smith Base and the 6th Air Refueling Wing at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, and the other three were out of the Ohio Air National Guard Base in Columbus.
“Losing an Air Force family member is extremely painful, especially for those who know them as a son, daughter, brother, sister, husband, mother or father,” U.S. Air Force Col. Ed Szczepanek, commander of the 6th Air Refueling Wing, said in a news release. “To lose them at the same time is unimaginable.”
Major General Matthew S. described Woodruff, Adjutant General of Ohio, described the three from Columbus as “outstanding Airmen whose service and commitment exemplify the best of our Ohio National Guard.”
Last year, the Air Force had 376 KC-135s, including 151 in active duty, 163 in the Air National Guard, and 62 in the Air Force Reserve, the Congressional Research Service says. It has been in service for over 60 years.
Capt. Seth R. Koval, 38, was an instructor pilot of the KC-135R Stratotanker with 19 years of service, according to the Ohio National Guard.
He was based in Stottsville, Ohio, and was an aircraft commander with the 121st Air Refueling Wing out of Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus. The Army said it trained pilots in air refueling, air medical, and cargo and passenger operations.
“He grew up dreaming of becoming a pilot, and standing alongside him as he achieved his dreams was an honor,” Koval’s wife, Heather, said in a family statement posted on Facebook.
Koval’s wife described him as a wonderful husband, father, son, brother, friend and aviator who was a “fixer of all things”, generous and loving. She said the most important thing about him was that Jesus was his Lord and Savior.
“I will see him in our son’s smile and carry him with me every moment,” she wrote.
Koval was from Morrisville, Indiana, according to the US government. He holds a bachelor’s degree in aviation operations from Purdue University and has been deployed five times in the past 12 years. The Ohio Guard said Koval had more than 2,000 flight hours, including 443 hours in combat. He was promoted to captain in 2022.
Captain Curtis J. Angst, 30, has been in the Army for a decade after earning a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Cincinnati. He enlisted in the Ohio Air National Guard in 2015 and was deployed in 2015 and this year.
“He was doing what he loved most — flying and serving alongside the men and women he cared deeply about,” his family said in a statement posted on Facebook by his wife, Mary.
Angst’s family said his life was marked by service, generosity and a “genuine love of people.” They described his passion for travel, the outdoors and music, and said he made others feel welcome and appreciated with his “always-on smile and instantly recognizable laugh.”
“Those who knew Curtis remember his unwavering kindness and the joy he carried with him wherever he went,” the family said.
Angst was a KC-135R pilot with the 166th Aerial Refueling Squadron and lived in Columbus. A statement issued by the federal government regarding his death indicated that he was from Wilmington, Ohio. He had 880 flight hours, including 67 combat hours. He was promoted to captain in November.
His brother-in-law said Major John A. “Alex” Kleiner, 33, had just been promoted to major in January and deployed to duty less than a week before the accident.
The pilot left behind three young children: 7-month-old twins and a 2-year-old son, according to his son-in-law, James Harrell.
Kleiner was an Auburn University graduate and eight-year U.S. Air Force veteran from Birmingham, Alabama. His wife, Libby Kleiner, said in an Instagram post mourning his death that he and his family had just moved to a new home.
He was Chief of Squadron Standards and Evaluations at Birmingham Air Force Base.
Kleiner, who loved hiking and the outdoors, was also willing to help others. When Harrell last saw him in January, Kleiner had pulled Harrell’s car out of the snow during a family wedding.
“Alex was one of those guys who had this steady control over him,” said Harrell, of Atlanta, who helped set up a GoFundMe for the Kleiner family. “He was literally one of the kindest, most giving people.”
Libby Kleiner said in her post that her heart is broken for their children, who will grow up not knowing their father.
“They won’t be able to see how he would jump in to help in any way he could,” she wrote. “They wouldn’t see how goofy and funny he was. They wouldn’t witness his selflessness, the way he thought of everyone else before himself. They wouldn’t feel the deep love he had for them.”
He has deployed four times since 2019 and has spent 362 combat hours and 181 combat support hours.
Technical Sgt. Tyler Simmons, 28, served in the Ohio National Guard’s 166th Air Refueling Squadron as a boom operator, according to his Air Force biography.
His mother, Cheryl Simmons, said Saturday that she was planning a funeral for her son, who lives in Columbus.
In a statement obtained by WCMH-TV in Columbus, Tyler Simmons’ family said they are deeply saddened.
“Tyler’s smile can light up any room, and his powerful presence will fill it. His parents, grandparents, family and friends are saddened by the loss of life,” they said.
Simmons joined the Air Force in 2017 and earned his associate’s degree from the Community College of the Air Force. He became a refueling specialist in 2022, and was named a technical sergeant in 2023. He has deployed three times in the past decade and has 230 combat hours.
Capt. Ariana J. Savino, 31, was a pilot with the 99th Air Refueling Squadron and served as chief of current operations. She was responsible for the flight hours program and daily flight schedule management, among other duties.
Savino, of Covington, Washington, was a product of the Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program at Central Washington University and earned an active-duty commission in 2017.
She served at bases in Georgia and Mississippi, accumulating more than 300 combat hours. I became a captain in 2021.
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Associated Press writer Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed.