Pilot Pleads Guilty To Charges Of Negligence

An Army chief warrant officer faces more than five years in prison after pleading guilty Thursday to military charges pertaining to the crash of his UH-60 Black Hawk in Afghanistan last August. The mishap cost the life of a 30-year old Army sergeant.

CWO Darrin Raymond Rogers, assigned to Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation based at Schofield Barracks, HI, pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of violating a lawful order, reckless endangerment and destruction of government property.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin quotes investigators who said Rogers was flying in a demonstration for visiting dignitaries in eastern Afghanistan when his aircraft went down near Camp Salerno. Those investigators said Rogers was conducting “maneuvers unnecessary for the mission.”

 One soldier was killed in the mishap -- Sgt. Daniel Galvan, 30, of Moore, OK. His widow was at Schofield Barracks for Rogers' court martial.

“If just for a minute, if Rogers hadn’t acted like a pilot and acted more like these were his children on board, this wouldn’t have happened," Sonya Galvin told the Associated Press. “He has no idea how much my kids are struggling, how this has affected our lives.”

FMI: www.25idl.army.mil