Downed F-16 pilot listed as KIA
The Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Ñ An American pilot whose F-16 fighter jet went down in Iraq was listed as killed in action following DNA analysis of remains recovered at the crash site, the Air Force said Sunday.
Maj. Troy L. Gilbert, 34, of the 309th Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., was supporting troops fighting in Anbar province, where many of the country's Sunni-Arab insurgent groups operate. Videotape footage obtained after the crash appeared to show the wreckage of the F-16CG in a field and a tangled parachute nearby.
Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. John Paradis declined to say whether GilbertÕs body had been recovered, saying only that some remains had been found.
U.S. forces investigating the crash have said insurgents reached the site before American forces could. The cause of the crash is under investigation. Officials donÕt believe Gilbert was shot down.
Gilbert was listed as Òduty status whereabouts unknownÓ until the Armed Forces Medical Examiner made the DNA match Saturday, the Air Force said.
ÒOur thoughts and prayers remain with the Gilbert family as they grieve the loss of a husband, father, son, son-in-law and Air Force warrior-patriot,Ó said Lt. Gen. Gary North, the top Air Force commander in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters, in a written statement.
Gilbert, who finished undergraduate pilot training in 2001, was deployed to the 332nd Expeditionary Wing at Balad Air Force Base, Iraq, in September and logged more than 130 combat hours, the Air Force said.
He planned to attend U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., next year, once he returned from Iraq, Paradis said.
ÒHeÕs someone we all knew here,Ó Paradis said. ÒA great guy, great pilot.Ó
He is survived by his wife and five children who live outside of Phoenix.
GilbertÕs family issued a statement Sunday through Luke Air Force Base.
ÒWhile the loss of Troy has been devastating to us, we should not fail to pray for those who are still involved in the unsafe conditions in Iraq and in other parts of the world where the lives of our brave military are in danger,Ó the statement read.