Military Pilot Rebecca Lobach, 28, Recognized as Third Soldier on Helicopter in D.C. Airplane Crash

The U.S. Military has shared the identification of the third soldier who was aboard the Black Hawk helicopter that crashed right into a passenger aircraft as Capt. Rebecca Lobach.

In response to a press release from the Military shared with PEOPLE on Saturday, Feb. 1, Lobach was a 28-year-old captain initially from Durham, N.C. She was assigned to the twelfth Aviation Battalion in Fort Belvoir, Va., and had served since July 2019.

The choice to withhold her title initially was on the household’s request, and now the choice to launch her title has come “on the request of and in coordination with the household,” based on the Military assertion.

“We’re devastated by the lack of our beloved Rebecca. She was a shiny star in all our lives,” her household mentioned by way of a press release launched by the Military. “Rebecca was a warrior and wouldn’t hesitate to defend her nation in battle.”

Lobach’s pal, 1st Lt. Samantha Brown, informed CBS Information that she additionally served as a White Home social aide throughout the Biden administration.

In January, Lobach escorted dressmaker Ralph Lauren by way of the White Home as he was visiting to obtain the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President Joe Biden, Brown informed CBS Information.

The Military captain attended Sewanee: The College of the South, the place she performed basketball, after which later went to the College of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the place she acquired her diploma in biology in 2019 and was a distinguished army graduate, Brown added. She enlisted within the North Carolina Military Nationwide Guard in December 2018 whereas nonetheless in faculty.

Lots of Lobach’s mates and Military colleagues have spoken out following her dying, remembering her as a devoted captain and pal.

“Not solely did she deserve what she achieved, however she was overqualified more often than not for what she was in a position to accomplish,” Capt. Bilal Kordab, who recruited Lobach to the North Carolina Nationwide Guard, informed USA At present. “Nothing was simply handed to her.”

“How do you sum up 28 years of an individual?” her pal Lt. Brown added to the outlet. “28 years outdated and gone violently… it is the worst doable factor.”

Brown additionally remembered Lobach as a voracious reader, who would usually supply to purchase mates books that she preferred, an athlete who may “smoke” anybody when it got here to weightlifting and somebody who was keen about her work.

“She was simply so jazzed” when she acquired the title of captain one yr in the past, Brown informed USA At present. “She was so proud to be piloting command.”

In response to Brown, Robach was additionally a licensed sufferer advocate with SHARP, the Military’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention program.

The Military beforehand recognized the opposite two troopers aboard the Black Hawk helicopter as Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, 39, of Nice Mills, Md., and Employees. Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Ga., who was the chopper’s crew chief.

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The transfer to withhold Lobach’s title got here after President Donald Trump claimed that the federal government’s variety, fairness and inclusion (DEI) insurance policies and the psychological well being of staff had been accountable for the crash.

“I hope that individuals can look previous the political side of the entire scenario and look previous her race and her gender,” Lobach’s pal, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Sabrina Bell, informed USA At present. “I hope that she’s remembered extra for the influence that she had on different individuals’s lives.”

On the night of Wednesday, Jan. 29, American Airways Flight 5342 collided with a Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River because the passenger flight approached Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport. The crash, which concerned three troopers on the helicopter and 64 individuals on the airplane, is believed to be the most dangerous plane incident since 2001.

The fiery collision despatched each aircrafts plummeting into the Potomac River and all 67 passengers on each aircrafts are presumed lifeless.