2015 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 50
BY SENATORS ADLEY, ALARIO, ALLAIN, AMEDEE, APPEL, BROOME, BROWN,
BUFFINGTON, CHABERT, CLAITOR, CORTEZ, CROWE,
DONAHUE, DORSEY-COLOMB, ERDEY, GALLOT, GUILLORY,
HEITMEIER, JOHNS, KOSTELKA, LAFLEUR, LONG, MARTINY,
MILLS, MORRELL, MORRISH, MURRAY, NEVERS, PEACOCK,
PERRY, PETERSON, RISER, GARY SMITH, JOHN SMITH,
TARVER, THOMPSON, WALSWORTH, WARD AND WHITE
A RESOLUTION
To express the sincere condolences of the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana to the
family of Louisiana National Guard Pilot Chief Warrant Officer Four George David
Strother upon his death.
WHEREAS, Chief Warrant Officer Four George David Strother was a decorated
combat veteran of service in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo during a career as a helicopter
pilot for the Louisiana Army National Guard; and
WHEREAS, CWO4 Strother had an exemplary record during his distinguished
service as a military aviator, and combat and disaster relief pilot serving twice in the
Louisiana Army National Guard from 1988 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2015; and
WHEREAS, CWO4 Strother served as a Black Hawk pilot and was a member of the
1st Battalion, 244th Assault Helicopter during his deployment in Operation Iraqi Freedom,
and Operation Enduring Freedom, and he later volunteered for hazardous duty in Kosovo
as a medical evacuation helicopter pilot with the 2nd Battalion, 135th MEDEVAC, bravely
rescuing and evacuating wounded soldiers, sometimes under fire; and
WHEREAS, CWO4 Strother would amass over two thousand four hundred flight
hours during his career and would conduct more than seven hundred hours of combat
missions during his deployments overseas and on state emergency operations; and
WHEREAS, CWO4 Strother would receive many awards and decorations during his
service, including the Air Medal, the National Defense Service Medal with Bronze Service
Star, the Iraqi Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the
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Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Armed Forces Service Medal, the
Humanitarian Service Medal, the Louisiana Emergency Service Medal, the Basic Aviation
Badge, the Senior Army Aviator Badge, and the Combat Action Badge; and
WHEREAS, CWO4 Strother would also serve state deployments during hurricanes
Katrina, Rita, and Isaac, as well as in support of Operations River Guardian and Deepwater
Horizon; and
WHEREAS, CWO4 Strother was commissioned as a Warrant Officer in 1994, and
would soon receive his orders to serve as a flight instructor pilot; and
WHEREAS, CWO4 Strother was married and a father, and was always amazed at
the combination of being a combat pilot and a husband and father and how being good at one
sometimes helped him be better at the other; and
WHEREAS, CWO4 Strother was forty-four years old when he was engaged in a
night training mission with his crew and a team of seven United States Marines over the
Florida Panhandle on March 10, 2015, when his UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter crashed
into the waters off the Santa Rosa Sound with no survivors.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby extend its deepest and most profound condolences to the family of Louisiana
Army National Guard Pilot Chief Warrant Officer Four George David Strother for their
immeasurable loss of such an extraordinary man.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
family of Chief Warrant Officer Four George David Strother.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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