2LT Zach Cook

[GI Jeep]

He graduated from Texas A&M in December and was working with the ROTC Department before going to OBC. Was killed in the Blackhawk Crash on A&M Campus 12 January 2009. pray for his family.

[AFhockey31]

ugh i just heard bout that... RIP

[Marine_mike]

Yeah just read about it yesterday. Rest in peace.

[korisu56]

RIP buddy

[miljeep]

We don't have a tv in our office and most websites seem to be blocked, so this is the first I had heard of the crash. RIP Sir.

[USMCTOWgunr]

RIP Sir..........

[JonJeffS]

Rest in Peace...

Officer who died in crash was living his dreams...

An Army officer killed in the crash of a Texas Army National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk was described Tuesday as a “young John Wayne” who was fulfilling his wish to fly when the helicopter went down on the Texas A&M University campus.
The head of the Aggie ROTC program said 2nd Lt. Zachary Cook, a recent graduate of the program, was a humble man and a natural leader with many friends and dreams of going to Officer Candidate School, where he would receive additional officer training.
“People were drawn to him. He had a physical presence,” said Col. Samuell Hawes, military science professor at A&M. “He was very well respected. When he walked into a room, people were drawn to him. He was about 6 foot 4. He had a swagger about him. The best way to describe it is he was like a young John Wayne.”
Investigators from the Army Aviation Center at Fort Rucker, Ala., on Tuesday launched an investigation into the accident, the first fatal crash of a Texas Guard helicopter on the state's soil in the organization's history.
The craft had just taken off to refuel elsewhere when it spun out of control and plummeted to Earth on Monday at 3 p.m.
The school's Web site said a rotor on the Black Hawk might have failed, but Texas Guard spokeswoman Chief Master Sgt. Gonda Moncada said she could not confirm this. She confirmed that the helicopter was flying low when it went down.
“I don't know what the altitude was,” she added. “I do know it wasn't high.”
Cook, a 22-year-old Lufkin native, was assigned to the Army Cadet Command in Fort Monroe, Va., while awaiting entry to Officer Candidate School.
“Our entire Texas National Guard community extends heartfelt sympathies to the family of Lt. Zachary Cook,” said Lt. Gen. Charles G. Rodriguez, the Texas Guard's adjutant general.
Five others were injured in the crash, including an A&M student on the ground who was treated and released from a College Station hospital. The other four, who were on the helicopter, remained hospitalized.
The Texas Guard identified the others as 1st Lt. Ellis W. Taylor, 31, B Company, 449th Aviation Support Battalion, from Buda; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Matthew J. Smith, 41, C Company, 1/108th Aviation Regiment, from Leander; Sgt. Richard D. Ravenscraft, 24, 71st Brigade Forward Support Battalion, from Austin; and Sgt. Charles C. Mitts, 42, C Company, 1/108th Aviation Regiment, from Spring. Their units are based in Austin.
Mitts was listed in critical condition, while Taylor and Ravenscraft were stable. Smith was in Brooke Army Medical Center, where spokesman Dewey Mitchell said he remained in critical but stable condition.
Smith, with nearly 2,000 hours in the cockpit, was the pilot in command.
While the guard has never before had a fatal crash on Texas soil, the accident was the second involving one of its helicopters in four months. A CH-47 Chinook carrying Sgt. Maj. Julio Ordonez, 54, of San Antonio, and six others went down in September while flying from Kuwait to Joint Base Balad in Iraq.
The Black Hawk that went down Monday was part of a five-ship formation. The guard was ferrying 190 cadets to and from nearby Camp Swift for the Aggie ROTC program's annual Winter Field Training Exercise, but no student was aboard the ill-fated aircraft, said Col. Bill Meehan, a guard spokesman.
Cook, a freshly minted lieutenant, was looking forward to taking the Basic Officer Leader Course at Fort Benning, Ga., or Fort Sill, Okla., where a brother, 2nd Lt. David Cook, is an artillery officer.
Hawes, the ROTC program chief at A&M, said Zachary Cook had three big dreams in his life.
“This is what his mother told me. He had three dreams: One was to be a Texas Aggie. No. 2 was to be an Army officer. And No. 3 was to fly,” Hawes said. “And so that was what he was doing on the day of his death.”

[ladywolf]

may you forever join the ranks of fellow aviators in heaven. fly well.

[USMCHarleyJeepGuy]

Rest In Peace to you Lt and prayers to those you left behind.

[JeepinSoldier]

All the way Sir.

Rest in peace.

[miljeep]

My wife told me that I knew one of the other troops that got injured, I guess I met him a bunch of times about 10 years ago at functions that had family and friends of family there. I honestly don't remember, but someone in her family called her and told her about the incident. As I said before, RIP sir, and wishing a speedy and full recovery to the rest of the crew.

[HillBillE]

RIP, thoughts and prayers to the familys, and speedy rcoveries to the others.

[vajeeper]

Rest in Peace...

[E5EDDIE]

RIP brother.

[CJGumby]

R.I.P Sir

[papsolddually]

R I P sir

[BigJUGGY]

Rip LT.