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Tamara Long Archuleta—October 2007 Shipment Honoree
University Graduate Goes Down in Air Crash
Source:
New Mexico Univeristy Daily Lobo
(ttp://media.www.dailylobo.com/media/storage/paper344/news/2003/03/27/News/University.
Graduate.Goes.Down.In.Air.Crash-401006.shtml)
By Clay
Holtzman
A UNM alumna was killed Sunday when the helicopter she was
copiloting crashed in southeastern Afghanistan during a
mission to rescue two critically injured children.
Tamara Long Archuleta, 23, 1st Lt. In the United States Air
Force, is described by those who remember her best as an
ambitious person who seemed to always accomplish her goals no
matter how much work was required.
"She's always been a very driven person," said Richard Long,
Long Archuleta's father. "She never was satisfied—she strove
to always be at the top."
Long Archuleta graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's
degree in political science from UNM after earning her
associate's degree from the Valencia branch campus where she
had been selected to be her class valedictorian in 1997.
"She is one of the best students I have ever worked with—a
terrible loss," said Mark Peceny, associate professor of
political science at the UNM main campus.
All six crewmembers of the 41st Rescue Squadron—part of the
347th Operation Group out of Moody Air Force Base in
Georgia—were killed in the HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter crash.
Richard Long said his daughter had just performed a successful
rescue mission the previous night. The Pave Hawk is primarily
used in extraction and insertion missions during booth day and
night.
"She was one of our top cadets," said Lt. Col. Richard
Trembley, commanding officer of the UNM Air Force ROTC
program. "A very admirable cadet and a very focused
individual."
Long Archuleta was enrolled in the two-year officer training
corps program and during her time at UNM was also was the
commander of the Arnold Air Society, a service organization
for Air Force cadets.
"She pushed you, she set an example," said Air Force cadet
Ralph Merrill, who was mentored by Long Archuleta when he
started the ROTC program. "Really, she was a role model."
Theresa
Carabajal, an employee at the campus Air Force office, said
she has seen nearly 1,000 cadets who have been commissioned as
officers through ROTC, but she remembered Long Archuleta for
her outstanding performance in the classroom and because she
was willing to cut off half of her knee-length hair to make
her training easier.
Ceremony honors Moody’s fallen
Source:
http://www.pjsinnam.com/War_on_Terror/komodo_11/Komodo_11.htm
By Rip
Prine
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE -- There was
standing room only for a memorial service at Moody Air Force
Base Thursday as airmen paid tribute to six heroes who died
Sunday in Afghanistan.
Members of
the 41st and 38th Rescue Squadrons comforted each other as
they looked at photographs of their fallen comrades, whose
HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter crashed while en route to rescue
two injured Afghan children. Their actions symbolized the
combat search and rescue motto: "That Others May Live."
"The
reason we are here this afternoon is to honor the crew of
Komodo 11," said Brig Gen. John Folkerts, commander, 347th
Rescue Wing. The crew members were Lt. Col. John Stein, Capt.
(Select) Tamara Archuleta, Master Sgt. Michael Maltz, Staff
Sgt. John Teal, Staff Sgt. Jason Hicks and Senior Airman Jason
Plite.
"All of us
at Moody Air Force Base are deeply grateful for your presence
here today as we grieve the loss of part of our family,"
Folkerts said. "We'll honor them throughout history for their
deeds, but today we gather as a community to say we miss you."
It was a
time for those gathered to heal, said Col. Tom Trask,
commander, 347th Operations Group. "It will be our job to take
up the slack and continue to carry on the combat rescue
mission and the combat rescue," Trask said. "They were us, and
now part of us is gone."
"Their mission was to attempt to rescue
two small children from Afghanistan—two children that
represent the future of a country that we freed from tyranny,"
Trask said. "There is no one that can argue that this was a
just and worthwhile mission."
Individuals who knew the Komodo 11 crew gave personal accounts
of their friends.
First Lt.
Todd Thorpe spoke of his relationship with Stein, whom he
referred to as his mentor. "When I think of Lt. Col. Stein, I
think of the No. 1 principal of leadership," Thorpe said. "He
was the epitome of technical and tactical expert."
Michael
Long, Archuleta's uncle, and former pararescueman, was
stationed at the PJ school, Kirkland AFB, N.M., when his niece
was born, he said. He had the fortune to watch her grow,
before the Air Force took him away. He remembered her
successes and her mastery of karate skills that were taught by
her father. He remembered her determination to become an Air
Force officer and pilot. "To me, she's still the little cousin
my daughter used to play with," Long said.
Senior
Master Sgt. William Sine, 38th RQS, spoke on behalf of Maltz,
whom he had known for 17 years. He described Maltz as an
awesome pararescueman who lived and breathed the job. As an
instructor, Maltz shaped and molded numerous PJs, Sine said..
Staff Sgt.
David Lacey, 41st RQS remembered Teal, whom he said his close
friends referred to as Mike rather than John. "Mike loved
flying and the rescue mission," Lacey said. He mentioned a
mission in Afghanistan in which he and Teal volunteered to fly
extra time to rescue a badly wounded soldier on the side of a
mountain at about 9,000 feet.
Staff Sgt.
William Hale described his friend Hicks playing a football
game like he was in the Super Bowl, Hale said. "I never met
anybody like Jason before," Hale said. "He was always full of
life. He had that typical goofy look on his face, and if you
looked at him you couldn't help but smile. I'll never forget
him. He died doing what he loved."
Staff Sgt.
(Select) Sean Cunningham, 38th RQS, described 21-year-old
Plite as a man who loved his job and loved being a PJ. "He was
strong, he was energetic, enthusiastic ... ," Cunningham said.
"He wanted to learn everything, he wanted to know everything,
he wanted to be the best PJ he could be."
Today,
crews like Komodo 11 are conducting combat search and rescue
missions in Afghanistan and other areas of the world. They
have been responsible for saving 57 people ranging from U.S.
and Allied military forces to Afghan civilians since their
arrival in Afghanistan about 16 months ago, Trask said.
Pilot's Death Strikes Close to Home for Third-Graders
Source:
The Associated Press
LAKE PARK,
Ga. — The death of a Moody Air Force Base helicopter pilot
in Afghanistan struck close to home for third-graders at
Georgia's Lake Park Elementary School.
1st Lt.
Tamara Archuleta of Belen, a co-pilot with the 41st Rescue
Squadron at the air base near the school, had written to the
pupils just last month in response to letters they had sent to
lend their support to military personnel overseas.
Archuleta
and five other airmen died Sunday when their HH-60G Pave Hawk
crashed en route to rescue two Afghan children who had
suffered severe head wounds. The 23-year-old officer had a
3-year-old son.
About two
weeks ago, Stacy Scarborough's class received a package that
contained 13 letters, all from Archuleta. There was also a
U.S. flag with a certificate saying it had flown over
Uzbekistan during Operation Enduring Freedom in honor of the
Lake Park third-grade class.
"I think
at that moment it all came together — the description of
the flag being flown over there. The children were very
excited," Scarborough said. "It meant a lot to them." The flag
hangs on the wall in Scarborough's classroom and will be flown
permanently at the school shortly after spring break to honor
all the men and women in the military.
The
students started writing in January, and each has sent three
to four letters. Scarborough told the children they might not
receive replies because the troops were so busy. The package
from Archuleta was more than they expected. "The fact that she
wrote each individual, they picked up on that and knew how
special that was," the teacher said.
Landon
Luke, 9, wrote his first letter to a military person overseas
and started it off with "Dear Soldier." "I told them about
myself and my hobbies," he said. When he read Archuleta's
description of what the 41st did, he was amazed. "I was proud,
and I felt good," he said.
Taylor
Thomas, 9, also felt pride. When she learned that Archuleta
was killed, she cried. "I was very sad, because she was the
very first person who had sent a letter to us," Taylor said.
Robin
White said her 8-year-old, Joseph, received his letter from
Archuleta about two weeks ago. It was dated Feb. 23. Archuleta
responded directly to him and mentioned how her son liked
Scooby Doo, too. Joseph learned of Archuleta's death Tuesday
morning when he saw the story in the newspaper, his mother
said. "He was stunned," she said. "The person he wrote to and
received a letter from was his first encounter with death. I
told him our troops are defending our country, and they are
willing to die for their country. "It's got our whole family
thinking about her. We didn't know her, but now we feel like
we did," she said.
Letter
From Pilot Archuleta to a Third-Grader
Here is
one of the letters written to third-graders at Lake Park
Elementary School in Georgia by Air Force helicopter pilot
Tamara Archuleta before she was killed in a crash in
Afghanistan:
Dear
Joseph, I am a pilot in the 41st Expeditionary Rescue
Squadron, of the United States Air Force. We are based out of
Moody AFB in Valdosta, Georgia. We are currently covering the
Afghanistan theatre in support of Operation Enduring Freedom
and the Anti-Terrorism Task Force. Our squadron has a very
special job. We fly HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters in combat
search and rescue. We go behind enemy lines to cover downed
personnel and isolated troops.
In
peacetime, we do civilian rescues for people that are lost and
hurt at sea, or in the mountains and need to get to a
hospital. That is a lot of what we have been doing here to
help show the people of Afghanistan that we are here to help
them.
Thank you
so much for the card! It was very nice of you to write the
troops here a letter. I hung your cards up on the wall so that
everyone can look at them and read your letters! My son likes
Scooby Doo, too. Keep working hard in school and you can be
anything you want to be when you grow up!
Sincerely,
Tamara Archuleta
1LT, USAF 41st Rescue Squadron
Director of Training
Links:
http://www.pjsinnam.com/War_on_Terror/komodo_11/Komodo_11.htm
http://www.legacy.com/gazette/Soldier/Story.aspx?PersonID=3167281
http://www.militarycity.com/valor/262966.html
http://media.www.dailylobo.com/media/storage/paper344/news/2003/03/27/News/University.Graduate.Goes.Down.In.Air.Crash-401006.shtml
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/fallen/dates/2003/mar/23/tamara-archuleta/
http://www.airforcetimes.com/legacy/new/0-AIRPAPER-2392621.php
http://www.iraqwarheroes.com/archuleta.htm | 
