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Questions & Help Mar 15, 2026 at 8:08 AM

Pentagon identifies 6 Air Force airmen killed in KC-135 refueling aircraft crash in Iraq

Posted by Tracheid

https://abcnews.com/International/4-dead-after-us-refueling-aircraft-western-iraq/story?id=131031069
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82 Comments

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gotohellwithsuperman Mar 15, 2026 +817
Are flags going to be lowered for them, or is that only for podcasters?
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Return-To-The-Void Mar 15, 2026 +344
For Podcasters only.
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FirefighterLeft5425 Mar 15, 2026 +147
It's f****** despicable man. I lived on Dover AFB at the heights of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. I still to this day remember taps being played all the time when someone came home who paid the ultimate sacrifice for this nation and had the flag dropped over their coffin. It's f****** infuriating, I can not believe how far we have fallen.
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[deleted] Mar 15, 2026 -301
[removed]
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rautx15 Mar 15, 2026 +127
Oh look at you bravely standing up for pedophiles. Good boy keep it up.
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FireHeartWarrior_97 Mar 15, 2026 +40
Just go read his post history....
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pavelowescobar Mar 15, 2026 +28
What an absolute terrible day to have eyes and reading comprehension. I could only stick around for about 5 seconds before I noped the f*** out.
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iheardthemetalclank Mar 15, 2026 +27
I will never understand anyone who chooses to leave comments on p***.
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Alwayssunnyinarizona Mar 15, 2026 +16
You'd have to be pretty fricking desperate and lonely.
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Mars_W_BOI Mar 15, 2026 +20
Man…f*** you! You really need to check yourself!
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[deleted] Mar 15, 2026 +1
[removed]
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The100th_Idiot Mar 15, 2026 +20
So youre going to enlist and be on the Frontline then right?
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pavelowescobar Mar 15, 2026 +26
Nah. Per his history, he's much too busy gooning.
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FirefighterLeft5425 Mar 15, 2026 +13
Guys never done anything or experienced anything real in his entire life. Or the true consequences of stupid greedy powerful men destroying people's lives. Entire family is military. Father was gone most of my upbringing for this nation. My entire teen years was nothing but war. I had friends that lost their loved ones, friends who can never walk again, a brother in law who is tortured that he takes 8 medications a day for severe PTSD after endless stints in Iraq and Afghanistan. Can hardly walk outside. The above guy is a piece of shit that doesn't know what sacrifice, honor, decency, or what real courage and strength is about.
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dagluck Mar 16, 2026 +3
Goonlord hates feelings, stfu
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DrDop4mine Mar 15, 2026 +7
Put the fries in the bag and shut the f*** up lol
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clover-the-clever Mar 15, 2026 +85
Flags lowered? We’re lucky if the president removes his baseball cap.
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rayofgoddamnsunshine Mar 15, 2026 +12
He won't.
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hkric41six Mar 15, 2026 +3
They apparently knew what they signed up for..
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Eggonioni Mar 15, 2026 +7
Gotta keep the merch hat on during their internment tho, MAGA needs to consooooom
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ObjectiveDark40 Mar 15, 2026 +90
Still no official reason for the incident?
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BLARTYMACMUFFIN Mar 15, 2026 +73
Military won’t tell you, this isn’t the FAA / NTSB
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Skulgafoss Mar 15, 2026 +20
The Air Force will conduct two investigations, and the results of one will be released publicly.  Safety Investigation Board: Takes priority, confidential to protect witnesses and promote candor. Purpose is to identify root causes and ensure whatever happened is prevented in the future.  Accident Investigation Board: Conducted second and often includes a review of additional evidence. Publicly released, no identities of those involved. Purpose is to provide a factual account of what occurred. Can be used to support disciplinary action and legal or insurance claims. 
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Dingleberry696 Mar 15, 2026 +8
This is blatantly not true. Here is the website from AF JAG for every AIB since 2010. https://www.afjag.af.mil/AIB-Reports/ While we can certainly criticize the civilian leadership that got us in this mess the AF has no reason to try to hide this. Sure, we will never see the Safety Board results, there will be an AIB released at some point. Certainly, with the surviving crew of the other aircraft we will get a cause and contributing factors.
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ObjectiveDark40 Mar 15, 2026 +27
We were told why the F-15s were shot down over Kuwait...why won't they tell us about this incident? Must be pretty bad. 
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BLARTYMACMUFFIN Mar 15, 2026 +30
You weren’t told why they were shot down, just that they were shot down. There’s going to be 1,000 pages of Air Force inquiry you never see…
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Soft_Walrus_3605 Mar 15, 2026 -1
Ok, but they could say "one KC-135 collided with another" (if that's what happened) and let all the details/reasons, etc. come later. You don't need a months-long investigation to determine the proximate cause of these things. Imagine if after the Challenger exploded NASA refused to say "the Challenger blew up 73 seconds into its flight" and waited until they determined it was the O-rings that caused it.
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snoopnick Mar 15, 2026 +8
Well the key difference there being millions of people aren’t watching refueling missions live on television.
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NotUniqueWorkAccount Mar 15, 2026 +2
Didnt this news break right after that Bessent interview where he's kinda shaken?
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cannot_walk_barefoot Mar 15, 2026 +6
I doubt Trump called him about some soldiers dying. Trump could not care less 
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usaf5 Mar 15, 2026 +9
Investigations take months
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ObjectiveDark40 Mar 15, 2026 -19
I mean...one aircraft landed and it's crew survived... shouldn't be that big of a mystery, just ask them. 
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usaf5 Mar 15, 2026 +9
Thats not how things work
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ObjectiveDark40 Mar 15, 2026 -5
Really? I mean it only took 3 days to find out the F-15s shot down over Kuwait were from a Kuwaiti F-18 ...but it takes months to ask an aircrew what happened and release their statements? Seems like a cover up for something embarrassing.
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usaf5 Mar 15, 2026 +8
Thats still not the root cause. Not everything is a cover up. Even the f15s are being actively investigated to what actually happened. Reports will be made and released when all is said and done. All of that takes time.
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ObjectiveDark40 Mar 15, 2026 +5
It's an official statement. More than we have received about this one. They aren't even admitting to a mid air collision or why.  https://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/PRESS-RELEASES/Press-Release-View/Article/4418568/three-us-f-15s-involved-in-friendly-fire-incident-in-kuwait-pilots-safe/
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usaf5 Mar 15, 2026 +2
Because people are dead thats more important
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ObjectiveDark40 Mar 15, 2026 +2
What's more important? That people are dead? What does that have to do with releasing actual information? They already said not because of friendly fire or hostile fire...so clearly they know what happened, they should tell the public. Wonder what they are hiding. 
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Judoka229 Mar 15, 2026 +5
They aren't hiding anything lol. It was a midair collision between refueling tankers. The difference between this and the Strike Eagles is that all of those crews were alive and recovered right away because of where and how they went down. Not everything is a conspiracy, man.
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ForsakenRacism Mar 15, 2026 -3
The planes crashed into each other. The other pilot knows what happened lol
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SourFix Mar 15, 2026 -2
Seems like the kind of thing that can happen if you replace the competent and qualified with inept loyalists but idk. I guess we'll see since we have a long and costly war to look forward to.
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feedthebear Mar 15, 2026 +141
Epstein thanks them for their service.
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Tweety_Hayes Mar 15, 2026 +45
“Suckers and losers” DJT
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Significant-Bed-8937 Mar 15, 2026 +22
Why are we losing Americans for Israel. Let them fight their own war.
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everydave42 Mar 15, 2026 +3
Not defending anything here, but let’s not pretend there aren’t deep Trump/US interests also involved here, regardless of the Israeli ones.
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2001_Arabian_Nights Mar 15, 2026 +36
With the FCC threatening the broadcast licenses of news networks for reporting that there was an attack on several other refueling aircraft, and then that story completely disappearing… now I really want to know what happened. We don’t even have confirmation on what country this is supposed to have happened in?
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MartianBrain Mar 15, 2026 +25
The story didn’t disappear. I found it in less than 30 seconds. https://www.reuters.com/world/five-us-air-force-refueling-planes-hit-iranian-strike-saudi-arabia-wsj-reports-2026-03-13/ This was the third result, and the top two were also covering that story they just had a paywall.
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2001_Arabian_Nights Mar 15, 2026 +4
I mean that there hasn’t been any follow-up. “Reportedly hit in Saudi Arabia” is all that we have.
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SteveTheSoviet Mar 15, 2026 -2
I mean it’s not all that eventful, they’re damaged and now being repaired. They were likely just sitting on a runway with no personnel nearby at the time of the strike.
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2001_Arabian_Nights Mar 15, 2026 +3
You found more information somewhere? They’re lightly damaged and easily repairable, you say? Who says? Are there pictures? Threatening to revoke the FCC licenses of anybody even asking about this story tells me that I might not want to take their word as gospel on what really happened.
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NG_Harbinger Mar 16, 2026
And if you had this information, it would help you in what way? I’m sure this is all super useful information for the everyday person /sarcasm
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Salt_Lie_1857 Mar 16, 2026 +1
How iran was able to hit those planes
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YellowBook Mar 15, 2026 +7
How many deaths will it take to hide the Epstein files?
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KRoadkil Mar 15, 2026 +2
With how the surviving plane had its tailed sheared, it looks like a mid-air collision
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johnnycyberpunk Mar 16, 2026 +1
One story I’m hearing from a friend in the Air Force is that they were maneuvering for a photo and collided.
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StromanthePoet Mar 19, 2026 +1
A photo? For who? (Genuinely asking)
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OSI_Hunter_Gathers Mar 15, 2026
6 More pics to be used by Trump's campaign?
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DimSumFan Mar 16, 2026
Donny will have new hat styles in their memory on the web store soon.
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[deleted] Mar 15, 2026 -25
[deleted]
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DaveShadow Mar 15, 2026 +8
From other threads, the plane is one that…if it goes out of control, there’s no chance of getting off it, parachutes or not. Once it’s out of control, you’re not in a position anymore to calmly put on a parachute, get to an exit and jump, so they took the parachutes out.
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theshiyal Mar 15, 2026 -10
F****** give me a chance at least though. I mean if I’m the captain and have even a 2% chance of holding it slow and level enough for 3 of them to get out I’m staying at the controls.
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[deleted] Mar 15, 2026 +2
[deleted]
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GMGarry_Chess Mar 15, 2026 +1
why is the flag backwards?
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czerka Mar 15, 2026 +3
It's not backwards. When you put a flag on something that moves, you put it in the direction it would blow if it was on a pole. Airplanes, racecars, shoulder patches, etc.
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ForsakenRacism Mar 15, 2026 +2
And how are you going to exit a pressurized aircraft that’s the size of a 707?
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100292 Mar 15, 2026 -6
They used to. They were removed as a cost cutting effort.
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Nope_______ Mar 15, 2026 -11
That's certainly an interesting thing to think. Why did you think that?
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Eighthday Mar 15, 2026 +5
Because it’s true. Back in 2008 they were removed because it cost too much to keep the maintained and to train people to use them. https://www.940arw.afrc.af.mil/News/Article-View/Article/169673/air-force-pulls-parachutes-from-kc-135s/
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Nope_______ Mar 15, 2026 -2
>thought any aircraft had to have them regardless. It's not true. The KC-135 does not have them. Your link proves me right.
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Eighthday Mar 15, 2026 +3
What are you saying? Super confused rn lol. Your original comment asserted that it was an “interesting to think” that the aircraft didn’t have parachutes. My reply is asserting that it’s not actually an “interesting thing to think” because it’s true that they do not have parachutes. Then you reply to me that it’s not true, it’s true.
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Nope_______ Mar 15, 2026 +1
It's not true that kc 135s have parachutes. They don't. It was an interesting thing to think that any aircraft had to have parachutes. They don't have to.
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Eighthday Mar 15, 2026 +1
Ah, I was reading your comment as that it was an interesting thing to think that they DIDN’T have parachutes
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[deleted] Mar 15, 2026 -2
[deleted]
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Nope_______ Mar 15, 2026 -1
That you thought any aircraft had to have them
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Far_Radish7752 Mar 15, 2026 -30
From the ABC News article: >KC-135 aircraft are not equipped with parachutes and do not have ejection seats, which are primarily in fighter aircraft, officials have told ABC News. >Passengers and crew members of KC-135s instead are trained on how to exit the aircraft when it is on land or on water, officials said. >According to a 2008 Air Force profile of the tanker crews, the move to get rid of parachutes was made because the tankers "seldom have mishaps, and the likelihood a KC-135 crew member would ever need to use a parachute is extremely low." “Extremely low” likelihood of need is not the same as never. Statistically speaking, that need will come up from time to time. As it did in this very incident. Our airmen are flying in death traps.
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poplglop Mar 15, 2026 +25
Sorry but this is an ignorant take, extremely low applies to commercial airliners as well. There are no parachutes or ejection seats on passenger planes because the odds you will ever be involved in a plane crash are exceptionally miniscule. Tanker aircraft operate far from the fighting and the same can be said of them. This was a preventable tragedy for sure but to say they are flying in deathtraps paints all of aviation as some sort of death defying stunt that hasn't been true since WWII.
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ForsakenRacism Mar 15, 2026 +9
It’s a like the size of a 737. You can’t just walk out of it ffs.
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raidriar889 Mar 15, 2026 +9
Parachutes would not have helped them. You can’t jump out of a plane that’s falling out of the sky uncontrollably. Civilian airliners don’t have parachutes either
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stopslappingmybaby Mar 15, 2026 -19
Are these the tankers related to the scandal years ago with Boing and an Air Force officer? That affair set back tanker replacement several years.
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Fabulous_Can8540 Mar 15, 2026 -24
Refueling Crash? Yeah sure
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MartianBrain Mar 15, 2026 +3
It’s all the government, maaaan. They’re lying to you, maaaan. The real story is aliens, maaaan. Do your own research! Think for yourself! Bill Gates wants to make you eat bugs!
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Fabulous_Can8540 Mar 15, 2026 -15
Shut up russian bot, stop spreading propaganda against our great pedonited states of America. Wtf you mean Iran shot down our plane? White house x handle says otherwise, so it must be right. American supremacy all the way🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸!!!
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