Published September 17, 2026

September 17, 2025

C Company, 4th Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne)

Some dates become permanently etched into our lives.

September 17, 2025, is one of those dates for my family.

It is the date we lost my cousin, Sgt. Donavon Scott, along with three fellow Night Stalkers—Chief Warrant Officer 3 Andrew Cully, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Andrew Kraus, and Sgt. Jadalyn Good.

They were members of C Company, 4th Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), known as the Chupacabras.

On September 17, they were conducting a routine flight-training mission when their aircraft was lost. All four soldiers were killed. The Army later identified the four members of the crew and stated that the cause of the aviation mishap remained under investigation.

For most people, this may be something they read about in the news.

For our family, it was the phone call you never want to receive.

It was the moment a name that had always belonged to someone we knew, someone we loved, suddenly became a name spoken in remembrance.

That name is Donavon Scott.

My Cousin, Donavon

Donavon was not just a soldier.

He was my cousin.

That simple fact makes this loss different for me. It isn't just a story about a military unit or an aircraft accident. It is about someone who was part of my family and whose life touched the people who knew him.

The Army's biography of Donavon tells part of his military story.

He enlisted as a UH-60 Helicopter Repairer, known as a 15T. After being selected for service with the 160th SOAR, he initially served with D Company, 4th Battalion, as a UH-60 helicopter maintainer. He later completed the MH-60 Black Hawk Non-Rated Crewmember Course and became a MH-60 Crew Chief with C Company.

Donavon became fully mission qualified as a crew chief and accumulated more than 776 flying hours. He also served on two support missions to Operation Inherent Resolve and a crisis-response contingency operation. His military decorations included the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Inherent Resolve Campaign Medal with Campaign Star, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, and Combat Action Badge.

Those are the facts of his military service.

But facts and awards can only tell part of someone's story.

To us, he was Donavon.

He was family.

And that is how I want him remembered.

The Chupacabras

Donavon wasn't alone that night.

He was part of a crew and a unit that demanded dedication, skill, trust, and commitment.

C Company, 4th Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne)—the Chupacabras—is part of the Army's elite special operations aviation community.

The four soldiers lost that night were:

CW3 Andrew Cully
CW3 Andrew Kraus
Sgt. Donavon Scott
Sgt. Jadalyn Good

The Army described them as exceptional warriors, teammates, friends, and family members whose loss left an immeasurable void.

I don't want Donavon's name remembered by itself.

I want his name remembered alongside the three people who were with him on that final flight.

Andrew Cully.

Andrew Kraus.

Donavon Scott.

Jadalyn Good.

Four soldiers.

Four families.

Four lives that mattered.

Four people who should still be here.

September 17, 2026

Today marks one year since we lost them.

A year can sound like a long time.

It isn't.

A year doesn't erase a person's absence.

It doesn't make a family's loss disappear.

It doesn't make memories hurt less simply because twelve months have passed.

Instead, we learn to carry the loss with us.

There will always be moments when something reminds us of Donavon.

A photograph.

A story.

A familiar place.

A conversation.

A memory that suddenly comes back.

And for a moment, the calendar disappears and we are back at the beginning.

Back to September 17, 2025.

More Than a Soldier

Military memorials often focus on service, awards, missions, aircraft, units, and accomplishments.

Those things matter.

Donavon's service mattered.

His commitment mattered.

His sacrifice mattered.

But before he was a soldier, he was a person.

He was someone's son.

Someone's cousin.

Someone's friend.

Someone's teammate.

Someone who was loved.

And that is something worth remembering.

The uniform tells us what he did.

Family tells us who he was.

Never Forgotten

I wish this page were being written for a completely different reason.

I wish September 17 were simply another date on the calendar.

I wish Donavon were still here and that we were able to make new memories instead of preserving old ones.

But we can't change what happened.

What we can do is remember.

So today, I remember my cousin Sgt. Donavon Scott.

I remember CW3 Andrew Cully.

I remember CW3 Andrew Kraus.

I remember Sgt. Jadalyn Good.

I remember the Chupacabras of C Company, 4th Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.

And I remember the families who have spent this past year learning how to live with a loss that can never truly be replaced.

Their final flight ended on September 17, 2025.

But their lives did not end in that moment.

Their stories continue through the people who knew them.

Through their families.

Through their friends.

Through their teammates.

And through every person who takes the time to remember their names.

For Donavon

You were my cousin.

You were part of our family, and you always will be.

I am proud of the life you lived, proud of the service you gave, and proud to call you my cousin. I did not know you well, I grew up with your mother.

However, you are family and also a fellow brother in arms.

There are no perfect words for losing a family member.

In Memory of the Chupacabras

CW3 Andrew Cully
CW3 Andrew Kraus
Sgt. Donavon Scott
Sgt. Jadalyn Good

September 17, 2025

C Company, 4th Battalion,
160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne)

Chupacabras

Never Forgotten. Never Alone. Always Remembered.

Night Stalkers Don't Quit.