WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) delivered a speech\u00a0Tuesday on the Senate floor\u00a0recognizing the service and sacrifice Capt. Seth Koval, Capt. Curtis Angst and Major Sgt. Tyler Simmons who lost their lives in a KC-135 crash in Iraq on March 12, 2026.<\/p>\n
The three servicemembers were serving with the 121st Air Refueling Wing based at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus, Ohio.<\/p>\n
Key excerpts<\/p>\n
\u201cI come today to request a pause in the political discourse in this chamber, for a moment of reflection.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs those both in this chamber and across the nation know, last Thursday, March 12, 2026, an American KC-135 refueling aircraft went down in western Iraq.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe crash claimed the lives of the aircraft\u2019s six crew members.\u201d<\/p>\n
. . .<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to take a moment of the Senate\u2019s time this evening to honor three of Ohio\u2019s favorite sons, the airmen who were serving in the Ohio National Guard with the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus.\u201d<\/p>\n
. . .<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me first speak of one of Ohio\u2019s favorite sons, Captain Curtis J. Angst.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was 30 years old from Wilmington, Ohio with ten years of military experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
. . .<\/p>\n
\u201cHis family stated that, \u2018Those who knew Curtis remember his steady kindness and the joy he carried with him everywhere he went.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
. . .<\/p>\n
\u201cHe will be missed by his wife Mary, his parents and many more friends and family.\u201d<\/p>\n
. . .<\/p>\n
\u201cMaster Sergeant Tyler Simmons was 28 years old from Columbus, Ohio.\u201d<\/p>\n
. . .<\/p>\n
\u201cHis father said that Sergeant Simmons loved airplanes and always had plans for joining the Air Force.\u201d<\/p>\n
. . .<\/p>\n
\u201cHis family says his mother said he loved serving in the military and that he was born for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe mourn today alongside Master Sergeant Simmons\u2019 entire family.\u201d<\/p>\n
. . .<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to honor Captain Seth Koval. He was 38 years old from Mooresville, Indiana.\u201d<\/p>\n
. . .<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a man of devout faith with Jesus as his Lord and Savior.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was described as loving, generous, selfless, kindhearted, smart, devoted, and a fixer of all things and a real outdoorsman.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis loss is one mourned by many, but most of all by his wife Heather, his son and countless other close family members and friends of Captain Seth Koval.\u201d<\/p>\n
. . .<\/p>\n
\u201cThese service members, alongside their three other brothers and sisters in arms, gave the last full measure of devotion to their country last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thank my colleagues for hearing their stories this evening, for honoring their service, for celebrating their lives and for mourning their loss alongside a grateful nation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) delivered a speech\u00a0Tuesday on the Senate floor\u00a0recognizing the service and sacrifice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[14],"tags":[9358,94,11734,11735],"class_list":["post-24313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iraq","tag-121st-air-refueling-wing","tag-iraq","tag-jon-husted","tag-rickenbacker-air-national-guard-base"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116247570931911306","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}