Helicopter crash claims life of Kirtland Airman Published March 6, 2008 By 377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- A noncommissioned officer from the 377th Air Base Wing was killed when an Iraqi Mi-17 helicopter crashed in a dust storm March 3. Staff Sgt. Christopher Frost, 24, of the base Public Affairs Office, had been deployed to Iraq since September 2007. Sergeant Frost was deployed to Iraq in support of Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, which is responsible for organizing, training, equipping and sustaining the Iraqi Security Forces, including the Iraqi Air Force. Sergeant Frost has been stationed at Kirtland AFB since July 2005 and has been in the Air Force for six years. He is Kirtland AFB's first Operation Iraqi Freedom casualty. Plans are under way for a memorial service on Kirtland AFB for Sergeant Frost at a date to be determined. Also on board the aircraft were seven members of the Iraqi Air Force. There were no survivors. The cause of the crash is under investigation.