Mitchell Kyle Carver, Jr. – Chief Warrant Officer 3, United States Army

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NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 040-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 16, 2006

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.  They died near Al Sukar, Iraq, on January 13, 2006, when their OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter came under attack by enemy forces using small arms fire.  Both soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, New York.

Killed were:

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Mitchell K. Carver, Jr., 31, of Charlotte, North Carolina
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kyle E. Jackson, 28, of Sarasota, Florida

17 January 2006:

The U.S. military confirmed Monday that two soldiers died when their AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed in a swampy area near Taji earlier in the day while on a combat patrol. It was the third helicopter loss suffered by coalition forces since January 7, 2006.

Although the military command said the cause of the crash was under investigation, two insurgent groups claimed responsibility. One of the groups, the Mujahedeen Army, released a video over the Internet purporting to show a shoulder-fired missile striking the helicopter.

The identities of the two soldiers killed were withheld Monday pending notification of their families. The soldiers were attached to Task Force Ironhorse. Their aircraft was the 32nd helicopter loss since the U.S.-led invasion began in March 2003.

Monday’s helicopter crash occurred in a farm area about 25 miles north of Baghdad. Residents reported seeing the helicopter on fire while in flight, then hearing huge explosions after its fall to earth. A half-dozen U.S. helicopters soon arrived on the scene, and soldiers sealed the area to look for suspects.

Rashid Khalifa, 27, who has a food and drink stand in the area, said he saw the attack. “I saw the smoke trail left by the missile,” he said. “I heard a hissing sound, looked around and saw the helicopter losing control before crashing down.”

Friday, two pilots were killed when their two-seat OH-58D Kiowa helicopter was shot down by insurgents in Mosul in northern Iraq.

Killed in the crash were two Army helicopter pilots from Fort Drum in northern New York, the Pentagon confirmed Monday.

Chief Warrant Officers Mitchell K. Carver Jr., 31, of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Kyle E. Jackson, 28, of Sarasota, Florida, died when the Kiowa Warrior reconnaissance helicopter was attacked by small-arms fire and crashed, the military said.

They were members of the 1st Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, at Fort Drum.

On January 7, 2006, eight coalition soldiers and four civilians were killed when their UH-60 Black Hawk chopper went down in what spokesmen have said was a weather-related crash.

The losses of helicopters to hostile fire seem to happen in clusters. Between April 21 and May 31 of 2005, three choppers were shot down, following the loss of four to hostile fire between January 22 and February 25 of 2004. Observers have theorized that insurgents notice flight and scheduling patterns of the aircraft and then launch attacks accordingly until the coalition adjusts the routine.

In response to last year’s string of attacks, U.S. commanders ordered that tactics and flight procedures for the helicopter fleet be altered and that fewer of the aircraft fly during daylight hours.

Seven Black Hawks have crashed during the war. The second-most heavily used Army helicopter, the AH-64 Apache, has crashed four times, and the No. 3 helicopter, the Kiowa Warrior, has gone down seven times. Some were accidents, others were caused by hostile fire, and some are still under investigation.

CWO Carver will be buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery on 23 January 2006.

22 January 2006:

ASHEVILLE, N.C. A helicopter hovered as onlookers holding American flags lined sidewalks for the memorial service of an Army chopper pilot killed in Iraq.

Chief Warrant Officer Mitchell Carver of Leicester died earlier this month when his helicopter was probably shot down over Mosul in Iraq.

Onlookers with flags dotted the route of the procession that took the 31-year-old Erwin High School graduate’s body to Trinity Baptist Church in Asheville.

Other locals will honor Carver during his burial tomorrow at Arlington National Cemetery.

Free bus rides to Arlington, Virginia, are leaving today from a Baptist church.

Carver volunteered to return to Iraq after serving during the 2003 invasion. His parents say he wanted to go back to the friends still on the battlefield. He loved flying and repairing helicopters, said fellow soldiers who traveled to Asheville for the funeral.

January 22, 2006:

Hundreds of mourners attended a funeral service for Chief Warrant Officer Mitch Carver, who died earlier this month when his Army helicopter was shot down over Mosul, Iraq.

The funeral Saturday will be followed Monday with burial in Arlington National Cemetery. Buses to take mourners to the cemetery were leaving from Newfound Baptist Church on Sunday afternoon.

Onlookers held American flags as they gathered along the sidewalk to watch Carver’s funeral procession pass them.

A native of the town of Leicester, the 31-year-old Carver was killed January 13, 2006, when his OH-58D Kiowa Warrior reconnaissance helicopter crashed. Carver was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division of Fort Drum, New York.

Also killed in the crash was Chief Warrant Officer Kyle E. Jackson, 28, of Sarasota, Florida.

mitchell-carver-valentines-day-2006 mkcarverjr-valentin-day-2006-photo-01

CARVER, MITCHELL KYLE JR

  • CW3   US ARMY
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 03/10/1974
  • DATE OF DEATH: 01/13/2006
    BURIED AT: SECTION 60  SITE 8315
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

mkcarverjr-gravesite-photo-01-april-2006

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