San Antonio Express-News January 24, 2007
Texas Guard flier died in Black Hawk crash
By Sig Christenson
A Texas National Guard member was among a dozen soldiers killed last weekend when the UH-60 Black Hawk he was piloting went down outside Baghdad, Iraq.
Military officials in Washington and Baghdad said little about the incident. But the wife of the pilot, Capt. Sean Edward Lyerly, and retired Army Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey said Wednesday night that hostile fire brought down the copter.
"It was shot down, that's all I know," said Csilla Lyerly, who has heard from her husband's friends. "That's kind of what the investigation is alluding to. I am not going to tell you what friends in Iraq told me. They weren't supposed to tell me."
A graduate of Stratford High School in Houston and Texas A&M University, Lyerly, 31, of Pflugerville is the first Texas Guard aviator killed in Iraq.
He deployed there last summer. The Black Hawk he was flying went down northeast of Baghdad about 3 p.m. Saturday.
A brief Army statement didn't give details on the location, mission or cause of the crash.
One senior officer said he and other military officials had been directed not to discuss the matter, and wasn't sure if the incident ever would be explained.
The failure to mention the cause of the crash is a deviation from standard procedure in such cases, said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
He added, "If it really had not been a shoot-down we would have had an interest in saying so to reassure the troops, to reassure members of Congress who are visiting, to reassure Iraqi forces who have to fly in helicopters sometimes."
McCaffrey said Iraq sources told him an expended shoulder-fired missile launcher was found after the attack.
Thousands were in Iraq's inventory before the invasion and have been the object of intense U.S.-led efforts, including buybacks, to take them off the street.
The most common, the Russian SA-7B "Strela," was introduced in 1966 and flies up to 12,500 feet, said John Pike, director and founder of GlobalSecurity.org, a military information online site. U.S. countermeasures, he said, usually misdirect the SA-7 before reaching its target.
U.S. helicopters "get shot at by small arms all the time and occasionally with RPGs (rocket propelled grenades)," said McCaffrey, who has spent time in Iraq since the invasion assessing the war for officials in Washington. "The pilots are so skilled, the procedures so good, the protective (measures) are so great, and thank God these people are lousy shots at that."
All but two of the victims were in the National Guard. Two were high-ranking NCOs, one Command Sgt. Maj. Marilyn L. Gabbard, 46, of Polk City, Iowa. Col. Paul M. Kelly, 45, of Stafford, Va., and formerly the National Guard's director of aviation, also perished in the crash.
"This is a sad time for our community," said the Texas Guard's commander, Army Lt. Gen. Charles G. Rodriguez. "Sean's gallant service to country and love of family marked his life and inspires us all to re-commit ourselves daily."
With Lyerly's death, the total number of Texas Guard troops killed in Iraq stands at 10. In all, 446 National Guard troops are among 3,050 GIs to die in Iraq.
Lyerly joined the guard as a private two years after high school graduation but enrolled in Texas A&M's ROTC course. He earned a horticulture degree, became an officer in 2005 and graduated from the Army's basic aviation course that year.
Ironically, Lyerly feared heights, but his instructor pilot praised him as one of his best students. Before long, he was flying supplies and dignitaries into New Orleans and East Texas after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. When the call came to serve in Iraq, he was ready.
"He had few doubts. He had a few concerns but he was very faithful," said his wife, who will turn 25 next Wednesday.
A father of a 3-year-old boy, Zackary, Lyerly was a fly fishing and motorcycle enthusiast. In eight years as a couple, she said, they never argued.
"Our marriage was a fairy tale," Lyerly's wife said. "I woke up every day thinking my life was too good to be true."
© Copyright 2007, San Antonio Express-News.
