Michael Slebodnik
Profile
Age: 39
From: Gibsonia, Pa.
Assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
Incident: Army Chief Warrant Officer Michael Slebodnik died Sept. 11 at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained near Forward Operating Base Nagil, Afghanistan, when the aircraft he was piloting received enemy fire.
Died: September 11, 2008
Army pilot from western Pa. killed in Afghanistan
The Associated Press
GIBSONIA, Pa. — An Army helicopter pilot who grew up in western Pennsylvania was killed during a firefight in Afghanistan, his family said.
Michael Slebodnik, 39, died Thursday after being shot near Jalalabad, according to his mother, Patricia Slebodnik, of Richland Township. She said the family was still waiting for more details on how he was killed.
Slebodnik joined the Army after graduating from Richland High School in 1987, and had been a helicopter pilot almost the entire time since his enlistment, his mother said. The married father of four children, ages 3 to 18, he was assigned to Fort Campbell, Ky., and lived in Clarksville, Tenn.
Slebodnik had been in Afghanistan since January and was scheduled to return to the U.S. next month. He had served five tours in Iraq since 2003 and was a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, according to...