Army General to Helm Chinook Investigation

WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 2011 — Army Brig. Gen. Jef­frey Colt will con­duct the inves­ti­ga­tion of the crash of a CH-47 Chi­nook heli­copter in Afghanistan that killed 38 U.S. and Afghan ser­vice mem­bers, U.S. Cen­tral Com­mand offi­cials announced today.

Colt, deputy com­mand­ing gen­er­al of the 101st Air­borne Divi­sion, will begin his duties imme­di­ate­ly. Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mat­tis, the Cen­tral Com­mand com­man­der, appoint­ed Colt. 

Offi­cials in Afghanistan believe a Tal­iban rock­et-pro­pelled grenade shot down the Chi­nook as it brought 25 Navy and Air Force spe­cial oper­a­tions per­son­nel to an Aug. 6 fire­fight in east­ern Afghanistan’s War­dak province. It was the dead­liest sin­gle inci­dent in the decade-long war in the country. 

Cen­tral Com­mand offi­cials would not dis­cuss the para­me­ters or scope of Colt’s investigation. 

Before arriv­ing at Fort Camp­bell, Ky., Colt served as com­man­der of the Joint Unmanned Air­craft Cen­ter of Excel­lence in Indi­an Springs Air­field, Nev. Colt is an Army avi­a­tor who served with the 160th Spe­cial Oper­a­tions Avi­a­tion Reg­i­ment and both 101st Air­borne Divi­sion avi­a­tion brigades. 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs)