CW2 Shane M. Barnes

10 November 2023, Mediterranean Sea

160th SOAR

A native of Sacramento, California, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Shane M. Barnes died on 10 November 2023 when the MH-60M Black Hawk helicopter he was copiloting crashed in the Mediterranean Sea.

After graduating Gonzaga University in 2011, Barnes attended flight school at Fort Rucker, Alabama, earning a commission as an Aviation Officer and becoming an UH-60L Black Hawk pilot. His first assignment was as a platoon leader with an assault helicopter battalion in Korea. He completed Officer Green Platoon in 2016 and was assigned to 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment as an MH-60M Direct Action Penetrator Pilot in Company C, 1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, serving as a platoon leader and operations officer. In 2020, he resigned his commission and became a Warrant Officer. He deployed multiple times with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment in support of operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

CW2 Barnes was a Fully Mission Qualified MH-60M pilot serving with Company C, 1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at the time of his death.