All six airmen killed when an Air Force refueling plane crashed in Iraq have been identified – including a beloved 33-year-old Alabama father of three who deployed just a week before the deadly crash.
Major Alex Klinner, a seven-year US Air Force pilot, was aboard the doomed US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker when it collided with another tanker over “friendly airspace” in western Iraq Thursday.
“It’s kind of heartbreaking to say: He was just a really good dad and really loved his family a lot — like a lot,” his brother-in-law, James Harrill, said Saturday.
The Birmingham resident, who enjoyed hiking and being outdoors, leaves behind 7-month-old twins and a 2-year-old son, Harrill said.
His grieving wife, Libby, said she is heartbroken that their children will grow up never knowing their father.
“They won’t get to see firsthand the way he would jump up to help in any way he could,” she wrote in a social media post.
“They won’t see how goofy and funny he was. They won’t witness his selflessness, the way he thought about everyone else before himself. They won’t get to feel the deep love he had for them.”
A GoFundMe has since been set up for the grief-stricken family, raising more than $467,000.
The Auburn University grad was remembered as someone who was always ready to help others and embodied the qualities of a “servant leader.”
“Alex was one of those guys that had this steady command about him,” Harrill said, noting that Klinner had recently been promoted to major in January.
“He was literally one of the most kindest, giving people.”
Tech. Sgt. Tyler Simmons, 28, from Columbus, Ohio, who was described as having “million-dollar smile,” was also identified as being on the deadly flight.
Simmons, a boom operator aboard the aircraft, was assigned to the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Ohio’s Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base before being deployed to the Middle East.
The other service members killed in the crash were identified as Capt. Ariana G. Savino, 31, of Covington, Washington; Tech. Sgt. Ashley Pruitt, 34, of Bardstown, Kentucky; Capt. Seth R. Koval, 38, of Mooresville, Indiana; and Capt. Curtis J. Angst, 30, of Wilmington, Ohio, the War Department announced Saturday.
Officials said Klinner, Savino and Pruitt were assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.
Koval, Angst, and Simmons were assigned to the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus, Ohio.
The other US aircraft involved in the fatal crash, also a KC-135, landed safely, UC Central Command said.
“The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury, and rescue efforts are ongoing,” CENTCOM wrote in a statement.
“This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.”
The Pentagon said the fatal incident is still under investigation.
A total of 13 American service members have been killed since combat operations in the Middle East began Feb. 28 — including six following a March 1 Iranian attack on a US base in Kuwait.
About 140 US forces have been wounded, eight of them severely, the Pentagon said earlier this week.
With Post wires
