{"id":24362,"date":"2026-03-18T02:21:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T02:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/24362\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T02:21:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T02:21:07","slug":"gov-ivey-orders-flags-at-half-staff-after-3-birmingham-airmen-among-6-killed-in-iraq-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/24362\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Ivey orders flags at half-staff after 3 Birmingham airmen among 6 killed in Iraq crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WBRC<\/a>) – Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has directed all flags to be lowered to half-staff after three members of the 117th Air Refueling Wing in Birmingham died in an aircraft accident in Iraq<\/a>. <\/p>\n

On Thursday, March 12, six U.S. Military personnel died when their KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft was involved in an accident in western Iraq<\/a>. They were operating in support of Operation Epic Fury. <\/p>\n

Maj. John A. \u201cAlex\u201d Klinner of Trussville, Alabama; Capt. Ariana G. Savino of Washington state; and Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt of Kentucky<\/a> all served in the 99th Air Refueling Squadron of the 117th Air Refueling Wing located at Sumpter Smith Joint Air National Guard Base in Birmingham. <\/a><\/p>\n

Leaders of the 117th Air Refueling Wing in Birmingham said they are \u201cdeeply heartbroken\u201d by the tragic loss of three members of the co-located 99th Air Refueling Squadron, offering prayers and condolences to their families and loved ones, and mourning the service members as fellow teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo honor these brave military personnel made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of America, Governor Ivey is directing all flags be lowered on the day of interment of Alabama native Major John A. Klinner,\u201d wrote Ivey\u2019s office. <\/p>\n

Klinner was 33 years old and a graduate of Auburn University<\/a>. According to Ivey\u2019s office, he served as chief of squadron standardization and evaluations. He was in eight-year Air Force veteran and held multiple awards, including the Air Medal with oak leaf cluster and the Aerial Achievement Medal. <\/p>\n

Major Klinner\u2019s brother-in-law told the Associated Press<\/a> that Klinner was promoted in January and had been deployed less than a week as part of Operation Epic Fury when he was killed. Klinner leaves behind a wife, a 2-year-old son, and 7-month-old twins.<\/p>\n

Savino was 31 years old and served as chief of current operations. She had over 300 combat hours, according to Ivey\u2019s office. Her awards include the Air Medal and Air Space Commendation Medal.<\/p>\n

Pruitt was 34 years old and served as assistant flight chief of operations. Ivey\u2019s office says she had over 900 combat flight hours. She is survived by her husband, daughter and stepson. <\/p>\n

Community mourning fallen servicemen<\/p>\n

\u201cAlex, Ashley, and Ariana are, and always will be, members of the 117th family,\u201d said Col. Mike Adams, 117th Air Refueling Wing commander. \u201cEven though they were not members of the Air National Guard, to us they will always be remembered as Vulcan refuelers and Alabamians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donations and care packages are being collected for their families. For more information, you can click or tap here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Klinner\u2019s day of internment has yet to be set. This story will be updated when it is announced. <\/p>\n

\u201cThree of the service members who lost their lives in duty to our nation were stationed at the 117th in Birmingham. They were not only outstanding Airmen. They were our neighbors \u2014 our fellow Alabamians. May their service and that of their families never be forgotten.”<\/p>\n

Get news alerts in the Apple App Store<\/a> and Google Play Store<\/a> or subscribe to our email newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WBRC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WBRC) – Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has directed all flags to be lowered to half-staff after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[9966,11750,11754,11753,9749,11745,11757,9747,656,9753,9769,11748,11756,11755,2990,9745,11553,94,8953,1384,9776,11746,11747,179,9768,9746,42,212,894,11751,11749,9750,11752,9975,1705,9743,11744,8707],"class_list":{"0":"post-24362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iraq","8":"tag-117th-air-refueling-wing","9":"tag-99th-air-refueling-squadron-of-the-117th-air-refueling-wing","10":"tag-aerial-achievement-medal","11":"tag-air-medal","12":"tag-alabama","13":"tag-alabama-governor-kay-ivey","14":"tag-alabamians","15":"tag-alex-klinner","16":"tag-associated-press","17":"tag-auburn-university","18":"tag-birmingham","19":"tag-captain-ariana-g-savino","20":"tag-col-mike-adams","21":"tag-colonel-mike-adams","22":"tag-family","23":"tag-fox-6","24":"tag-half-staff","25":"tag-iraq","26":"tag-kc-135-stratotanker","27":"tag-kentucky","28":"tag-major-alex-klinner","29":"tag-major-john-a-klinner","30":"tag-major-john-klinner","31":"tag-military","32":"tag-montgomery","33":"tag-myfoxal","34":"tag-news","35":"tag-operation-epic-fury","36":"tag-state","37":"tag-sumpter-smith-joint-air-national-guard-base","38":"tag-technical-sergeant-ashley-b-pruitt","39":"tag-trussville","40":"tag-united-states-air-force","41":"tag-vulcan-refuelers","42":"tag-washington","43":"tag-wbrc","44":"tag-wbrc-6","45":"tag-western-iraq"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24362","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=24362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}