Captain Victoria Pinckney and her son. Gabriel
Call us old-fashioned, but there’s something especially bitter about losing a young mother in a military tragedy like last Friday’s KC-135 Stratotanker crash in Kyrgyzstan.
Air Force Captain Victoria “Tori” Pinckney, 27, of Colorado Springs, Colo., perished in the crash, along with Captain Mark “Tyler” Voss, 27, of Boerne, Texas, and Technical Sergeant Herman “Tre” Mackey III, 30, from Bakersfield, Calif. Their refueling plane apparently exploded shortly after taking off from Manas air base in Kyrgyzstan, a key logistical hub for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and remains under investigation.
“Tori, you had accomplished so much in your too brief life,” someone posted on a Facebook page dedicated to the memory of the crew. “You were living your dream!”
You can glean from one of the comments there how strange it is for some for a woman to die in such a crash: “How can anyone not love these men?”
“We’re a strong family here and it’s truly heart wrenching when members of this family make the ultimate sacrifice for their nation,” said Air Force Colonel Brian Newberry, commander of the trio’s unit.
True enough. But there’s family, and then there’s family.
Godspeed to Tori, Tre and Tyler…and condolences to their families, including Captain Pinckney’s seven-month old son, Gabriel, and his dad, Richard.
Captain Mark Voss
Tech. Sgt. Herman Mackey III