Family of Marine killed in California helicopter crash tells 'Fox & Friends' that mission turned fatal due to 'stupid mistake'

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Bradford Moulton lost his nephew, Captain Benjamin Moulton, 27, in the deadly February 7 helicopter crash in California that killed 5 marines. He joined co-host Steve Doocy to share his views on the February 12 episode of 'Fox & Friends.'

Bradford argued that the aircraft should not have taken off for the training mission in the midst of a rare winter storm, calling it a "stupid mistake."

Bradford Moulton's take on the fatal training exercise

A former military personnel himself, Bradford claimed that the exercise on that particular day made no sense to him.

"That's something that I personally cannot understand. Having worked with the military for most of my career, I know the military does hazardous missions all the time, and they train all the time, but this was a highly volatile storm," he told Doocy.

"They had hurricane-force winds. These helicopters, they were flying, they don't have defrosters on the windshields. If their rotors ice up, they're going down. They were flying at an altitude of 5,400 feet, which is right where the snow and the rain mixes," he explained.

"They shouldn't have been off the ground. It was a training mission. They could have waited four or five hours till the storm passed and then go, but some operations officer made the call, and they left. It's a terrible tragedy for all of these families."

Bradford Moulton remembers his nephew Benjamin

Commissioned into the Marine Corps on March 29, 2019, Benjamin Moulton was promoted to the rank of Captain on August 1, 2023. He was also the recipient of a National Defense Service Medal.

"Ben was an awesome kid. He was a super smart kid. Probably one of the smartest kids to ever come out of the school district. Got a full-ride scholarship, ROTC scholarship to the University of Washington," shared Bradford.

"Graduated in three years with a political science degree, went to officer candidate school, was second in his class in OCS, and was the company commander. He... won (a) marksmanship award in basic training. He was the best shot in his entire unit," he continued.

"He was a captain of the University of Washington boxing team. He liked to hunt and fish and build cars, and he was a blacksmith and a knife maker. And he was just a good, good kid, and it's just a tragedy that he's gone over a stupid mistake."

The marines who went down alongside Benjamin were Sgt Alec Langen, 23, Lance Cpl Donovan Davis, 21, Capt Jack Casey, 26, and Capt Miguel Nava, 28. The group was traveling in a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter before it crashed in the San Diego mountains, reported Fox News.