FORT LEE, Va. –
Virginia Army National Guard aviation Soldiers gathered for the 2026 Aviation Safety Stand Down Sept. 12, 2026, at Bunker Hall at Fort Lee, Virginia, bringing together senior leaders and experienced aviators to reinforce a culture of safety, risk management and adherence to standards.
The event included remarks from Maj. Gen. James W. Ring, the Adjutant General of Virginia, and Col. Matthew Lewis, VaARNG State Army Aviation Officer, as well as a presentation from two Louisiana Army National Guard aviators with firsthand experience with a 2015 training accident.
Ring opened the stand down by connecting aviation safety to the Virginia National Guard’s broader responsibility to maintain ready forces capable of responding at home and overseas. Ring emphasized that safety is not separate from readiness but a foundation for accomplishing the mission.
“Safety underscores everything we do,” Ring said.
He encouraged Soldiers at every level to recognize their role in identifying hazards, implementing controls and building the individual and collective proficiency required to operate in complex, high-stress environments.
Lewis highlighted the VaARNG aviation community’s demanding operational tempo. Over the past year, Virginia aviation personnel prepared, mobilized and employed units for missions around the world while maintaining tactical readiness and supporting domestic response requirements.
Lewis warned those demands make maintaining standards even more important.
“Operational tempo is never an excuse to bypass safety,” Lewis said. “Safety is not a passive checklist. It is deliberate, proactive discipline.”
Lewis emphasized that soldiers of every rank have both the authority and responsibility to intervene when they recognize an unsafe condition.
“True discipline is doing what is right, by the book, even when no one is watching,” Lewis said.
The consequences of those decisions were brought into focus by Chief Warrant Officer 5 Thomas Wilson and Chief Warrant Officer 5 Dino Parmentier, both aviators in the Louisiana Army National Guard. They shared their experiences surrounding the March 10, 2015, crash of a Louisiana Army National Guard UH-60M Black Hawk during a training mission near Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The aircraft was operating alongside a sister Black Hawk when it crashed into Santa Rosa Sound, killing four Louisiana Army National Guard aircrew members and seven U.S. Marines.
Wilson and Parmentier were aboard the sister aircraft that returned safely.
The two veteran aviators challenged soldiers to examine factors that can develop before accidents occur. They discussed command and mission pressure, assumptions, experience, ego, changing environmental conditions and the temptation to simply “get it done.”
“Accidents change and shape our organization,” Wilson said, explaining that the loss changed the way their organization approaches operations and assesses risk.
Their presentation emphasized that an accident rarely develops from a single decision. Breaking that chain requires Soldiers at every level to recognize changing conditions, communicate concerns and be willing to stop an operation when risk becomes unacceptable.
The stand down concluded with an awards ceremony recognizing excellence while honoring the legacy of members of the Virginia Army National Guard aviation community.
The awards commemorate Col. Paul Kelly, Staff Sgt. Daryl Booker and Sgt. Mark Dameron. Kelly, a former Director of Army National Guard Aviation, and Booker, a Virginia Army National Guard flight operations specialist, were killed Jan. 20, 2007, when their UH-60 Black Hawk was shot down in Iraq. Dameron served in the Virginia Army National Guard’s aviation community and played a pivotal role in establishing the organization’s UH-72 Lakota maintenance program before his death in 2015.
Remembering those Soldiers alongside the lessons shared by Wilson and Parmentier reinforced a common message throughout the stand down that safety is not simply a requirement or an annual event. It is a responsibility carried by every member of the formation.