Shreveport-area Men Among Those Dead in Afghanistan Chinook Crash
News sources are reporting that two Shreveport-area men were aboard the Chinook helicopter shot down this past weekend by Taliban insurgents.The Associated Press and The Shreveport Times are reporting Chief Petty Officer Robert James Reeves and Lt. Commander Jonas Kelsall were among the 30 killed in the crash on Saturday in Wardak Province in Afghanistan. Among those killed were U.S. ISAF service men, a civilian interpreter and seven Afghan commandos, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Reports indicated many of the passengers killed were Navy SEALs, specifically those who were among the team that killed Osama Bin Laden earlier this year.
Reeves became a SEAL in 1999, his father said, and served on SEAL Team 6. He was deployed many times in his career and earned four bronze stars among other achievments, his father said.
Kelsall was one of the first members of SEAL Team 7, his father said, and received most of his training in San Diego. He attended the University of Texas right out of Basic Underwater Demolition training where he met his wife Victoria Kelsall, John Kelsall said. They were married for three years.
via Local SEALs among dead in Afghanistan helicopter crash | Shreveporttimes | shreveporttimes.com.