A Mississippi National Guard AH-64 Apache attack helicopter crashed in the northern part of the state near Booneville on Friday afternoon, a service component spokesperson confirmed.
Two Guardsmen who were on board were killed in the mishap and safety crews were at the scene, according to a statement from Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves. The names of the two service members were being withheld until next of kin could be notified.
The Mississippi crash is yet another deadly mishap involving military helicopters, with many of those incidents involving the National Guard — a service component grappling with issues involving funding and maintenance.
Read Next: DC-Area Army Retention Is Good, and It Could Be a Bellwether for the Rest of the Service
“Mississippi will always be grateful for their service and we will never forget them,” Reeves said in the statement.
The news comes after a Utah National Guard AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed near Salt Lake City last week. The two pilots survived, a rarity in rotary crashes. In March last year, the Army saw one of the deadliest training incidents in its history in which nine soldiers died in a crash involving two Black Hawk helicopters out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
The Army National Guard in particular also has had a large number of incidents over the past decade, with at least 28 of its troops killed in helicopter crashes as of April, according to a report from the Government…
