Military IDs 4 Californians Killed In Afghanistan

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The military has released the names of three Navy SEALs and an airman from California who were killed when their helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan over the weekend.

Darrik Benson, 28, of Angwin; Jesse Pittman, 27, of Ukiah; Louis Langlais, 44, of Santa Barbara; and Andrew Harvell, 26, of Long Beach, were among the 30 American military personnel who died in Saturday's crash, the Department of Defense said Thursday.

Benson and Pittman held the rating and rank of special warfare operator petty officer 1st class.

Langlais was a special warfare operator master chief petty officer, while Harvell held the rank of staff sergeant with the Air Force.

Of the 30 Americans killed, 22 of them were Navy SEALs. Eight Afghans were also killed when the CH-47 Chinook helicopter they were in was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by a Taliban insurgent as if flew over Afghanistan's Tangi Valley.

The crash was the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the war.

Here is some background on the men.

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Darrik Benson

Before he became a U.S. Navy SEAL, Darrik Benson was known as a good student and an all-around nice kid in Angwin, a small town in California's Napa Valley where he grew up.

At the end of his latest tour of duty next month, he planned to marry his girlfriend, Kara, and spend time with his 2-year-old son, Landon.

"She's very broken up about this," Benson's mother, Claudia Benson, told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

Benson had recently earned his commercial pilot's license to possibly fly airplanes after his military service ended.

Linda Hansel, who taught Benson in eighth grade, remembered him as bright, outgoing and just a touch mischievous.

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Jesse Pittman

Jesse Pittman made it known he wanted to become a SEAL during his second summer working as a seasonal firefighter for California's forestry department. He trained in his off-time with an ex-SEAL to prepare.

He was a hard worker who shared a love of hotrods with his father and older brother, and he did odd jobs at an automotive repair shop in his hometown of Willits, Calif., to learn how to build and repair cars.

Despite being a leader on his fire crew and having a good career ahead of him as a firefighter, Pittman made it clear becoming a SEAL was his passion.

"He liked to be challenged, and I think that challenge is what drew him to both of those careers," his friend Chris Wilkes told the San Francisco Chronicle. "When he told me he wanted to be a Navy SEAL, I told him he had been watching too much TV. But he said, `No, I can do that."'

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Louis Langlais

Louis Langlais was originally from Santa Barbara but lived in Virginia with his wife and two sons. He was thrust into the national spotlight in April 1997 when he attempted to parachute into Pro Player Stadium dressed as the mascot of the Florida Marlins, the Virginian-Pilot reported. Winds tore off the costume and Langlais landed outside while someone else took his place inside, the paper reported.

Langlais enlisted in the Navy in June 1986. In 1989, he reported to SEAL training in Coronado, Calif., and reported to a West Coast-based SEAL team until 1997. He was on the Navy parachute team until February 2000 and later joined several East Coast-based SEAL teams. Langlais won numerous medals and commendations for his service and was remembered by countless friends in an outpouring of support on Facebook.

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Andrew Harvell

Andrew Harvell lived in Southern Pines, N.C., with his wife, according to the Fayetteville Observer.

He was assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron at nearby Pope Field, where a private memorial was held Thursday.

While not as prominent as the elite SEALs, the unit that Brown belonged to is also renowned for its rigor and skill.

Hand-picked after joining the Air Force, candidates for the Special Tactics Squadron must successfully complete three years of arduous training before they can be assigned to a unit, according to retired Air Force Col. John Carney.

"Out of 100 people who go into that rigorous training, maybe 10 of them will make it out," said Carney, who is credited with creating the special tactics units in the 1980s.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)