Florida soldier among those killed in Fort Campbell Black Hawk crash

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (WKRG) — All nine soldiers killed when two Army Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopters crashed during a nighttime training exercise in Kentucky have been identified. Among them is a soldier from Milton, Fla. and one from the Birmingham area.

The list from the 101st Airborne Division includes the name of Warrant Officer 1 Jeffery Barnes, 33, of Milton, Fla. Staff Sgt. Taylor Mitchell, 30, was from Mountain Brook, Ala.

“This is a time of great sadness for the 101st Airborne Division. The loss of these Soldiers will
reverberate through our formations for years to come,” said Maj. Gen. JP McGee, commanding
general of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell, in a news release. “Now is the time for grieving and healing. The whole division and this community stand behind the families and friends of our fallen Soldiers.”

An Army aviation safety team from Fort Rucker, which is just west of Dothan, Ala., are at the site of the crash and “conducting a thorough investigation into the accident,” according to the release.

Warrant Officer 1 Jeffery A. Barnes

Included in the release from the 101st Airborne Division were service records for each of the nine killed in the wreck. According to those records, Barnes was born in Florida and enlisted in the Army in 2010. Barnes attended basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Eustis, Virginia. Barnes’ service included a deployment to Afghanistan.

Among Barnes’ awards and decorations: