Safety oversights, inexperience at play in deadly 2020 ATV rollover at Ali Al Salem 3 hours ago Senior Airman Jason Khai Phan, assigned to the 66th Security Forces Squadron, was photographed in 2019 as an airman first class. Phan, of Anaheim, Calif., died as a result of non-combat related injuries while conducting a routine patrol outside the perimeter of Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait, Sept. 12. (Air Force) A recent investigation into the all-terrain vehicle rollover that killed an American airman on patrol outside Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait last fall found that none of the ATV’s occupants wore seatbelts, and only one door may have been locked as needed.
Lack of Training a Factor in ATV Rollover That Killed 26-Year-Old Airman in Kuwait
Senior Airman Jason Khai Phan, photographed in 2019 as an airman first class, 66th Security Forces Squadron, of Anaheim, Calif., died as a result of non-combat related injuries while conducting a routine patrol outside the perimeter of Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait, Sept. 12. (Courtesy U.S. Air Force)
6 Apr 2021
Air Force officials waived airmen s in-person vehicle training requirements during the global pandemic, something investigators noted in a comprehensive review of a vehicle rollover accident in the Middle East that killed a 26-year-old senior airman.
Senior Airman Jason Khai Phan, from the 66th Security Forces Squadron at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., died after being ejected from an all-terrain vehicle while on a routine perimeter sweep of Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait in September, an Air Force ground investigation board report found.
By COREY DICKSTEIN | STARS AND STRIPES Published: April 5, 2021 Speed and the failure to follow safety regulations were factors in the death of a 26-year-old U.S. airman, who was killed in September during a rollover wreck of an armored vehicle outside a Kuwait air base, an Air Force investigation determined. None of the three Air Force Security Forces airmen inside the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected All Terrain Vehicle, or M-ATV, were wearing helmets or seatbelts, when the driver lost control of the 28,000-pound vehicle, flipping it over and ejecting Senior Airman Jason Khai Phan, an investigation board found. Phan, who was seated behind the driver, was killed instantly in the Sept. 12, 2020, wreck near the end of a 12-hour security patrol just outside Ali Al Salem Air Base, where he and the others were deployed.
On Friday, the Pentagon identified a Texas Army National Guard soldier who died in Kuwait on Wednesday.
In a statement to American Military News, the Pentagon said Staff Sgt. Timothy Luke Manchester, 34, of Austin, Texas, died in a non-combat related incident in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. The Pentagon did not provide details about Machester’s death and the incident is under investigation.
Major Gen. Tracy Norris, the Adjutant General for the Texas National Guard, said, “We are devastated by the loss of one of our own. In this profession, we always know in the back of our mind that this is a possibility, but we hope it never comes to pass. The entire Texas Military Department sends our deepest condolences to Staff Sgt. Manchester’s family and loved ones he leaves behind. We are also keeping his fellow service members in our thoughts and prayers who are still overseas mourning the loss of their brother in arms.”