Army identifies pilots killed in California helicopter crash

The Army on Monday identified two pilots killed in a helicopter crash this past weekend at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif.

1st Lt. Clayton Cullen, of Indiana, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kevin Burke, of California, died when their Apache attack helicopter crashed on Saturday around 1 a.m. while flying a readiness training exercise.

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Both were assigned to the 4th Combat Aviation Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Carson, Colo.

The crash is under investigation.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) last week warned that long-term budget cuts and failure to pass a complete defense budget for the past nine years has “pushed our military past the breaking point.”

“The costs of these readiness deficiencies are really dire. And this is literally costing us lives,” he said.

“In total, we lost 80 lives due to training accidents in 2017 alone — that is four times as many [as] were killed in combat. We need to do better.”

The helicopter crash marks the first known deadly accident for the military in the new year.