Five HAAF soldiers killed in Afghanistan

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SGT. Josue Hernandez-Chavez

SPC Nikolas Mueller

SSG. Shawn McNabb

CW3 Niall Lyons

CW4 Michael Montgomery

By Christy Hutchings - bio | email

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - The war in Afghanistan is taking a heavy toll right here at home. The United States Army confirmed today that five Hunter Army Airfield soldiers died when their helicopter crashed Monday.

All five were part of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the "Night Stalkers." This makes six Hunter soldiers killed in just the past week.

The first confirmation we had on the crash was from the family of 26-year-old Nikolas Mueller. He's from Wisconsin, a town called Little Chute. His family confirmed he died in the crash a few days ago before the Department of Defense released any of the names.

Mueller's mother says her son wanted to be a pilot even when he was a young boy. She said right out of high school he joined the Army, served two tours in Korea, and was in the middle of his third deployment. She says her son was actually planning on coming home for Christmas this year. It would have been the first time in three years.

We have a lot of information on Mueller because his family spoke out about his death Wednesday. The Department of Defense just officially released the names of the other four soldiers at 11pm Thursday night.

They are 36-year-old Chief Warrant Officer Michael Montgomery of Savannah, Georgia, 40-year-old Chief Warrant Officer Niall Lyons of Spokane, Washington, 24-year-old Staff Sgt. Shawn McNabb of Terrell, Texas, and 23-year-old Sgt. Josue Hernandez Chavez of Reno, Nevada.