An Airman Fell at a Game Meant to Honor the Military. Learn His Name When It Comes, and Pray for His Family.

Saturday night at the Alamodome was meant to honor the military. UTSA was hosting Navy for its annual Salute to Armed Forces and Veterans game, and four members of an Air Force training unit were set to rappel from the stadium's rafters to the field before kickoff.

One of them did not make it down safely. About halfway through the descent, he began sliding in an uncontrolled way and hit the field hard, Task & Purpose reported, citing a San Antonio Express-News reporter. He was taken to a hospital and later died.

The airman was assigned to the Air Force's 6th Combat Training Squadron, Detachment 2, a spokesperson for Nellis Air Force Base said. He has not been identified, and the Air Force said the incident is under investigation, NBC News reported.

A stadium that went silent

Video verified by NBC shows the airman descending on a rope from the rafters before falling to the field. Someone raced from the sideline toward him as he lay near the 50-yard line, and he was driven off in a golf cart as fans watched.

"Everybody was quiet; the band stopped performing," witness Adrian Corey told KSAT. Another witness, Siomara Corey, said: "It was a very sad moment. There was no updates after that other than asking for prayers, but it did not look good."

The game went on after a short delay. UTSA beat Navy.

The catwalks in the Alamodome's rafters sit about 160 feet above the field, according to the stadium's technical manual, Task & Purpose reported.

Training for the hardest jobs

The 6th Combat Training Squadron trains troops who direct airstrikes from the ground, alongside Army and Marine units. Detachment 2 runs selection and initial training in San Antonio for airmen hoping to qualify as Tactical Air Control Party specialists, part of the Air Force's special warfare corps, Task & Purpose reported.

These are not ceremonial jobs. The skills on display Saturday are the ones such airmen may need someday under fire. The crowd came to thank men like him. None of them expected to watch one of them fall.

San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said she was "deeply saddened." "We will keep his family in our prayers," she said. "May perpetual light shine upon him." UTSA said its "heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the soldier who was affected, his family and his military colleagues."

Questions, and prayers

There will be questions, and they deserve answers. The American Conference, which includes UTSA and Navy, said it is working with its schools, the Alamodome and local authorities to review what happened, KSAT reported. Families who send their sons and daughters into uniform should know that even a pregame demonstration is carried out with every safeguard.

But tonight, an Air Force family is grieving one of its own. Fellow airmen who trained beside him are grieving too, as is a crowd that came to cheer and left in shock.

It is the second time this weekend that an ordinary American gathering around a game has turned to grief. On Saturday afternoon in Kansas, a truck drove into a youth soccer game, killing a 6-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man.

Scripture does not pretend life is safe. "For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away" (James 4:14). It also promises that the Lord "healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds" (Psalm 147:3).

When the Air Force releases his name, Americans should learn it and remember it. Until then, pray for his family, for the airmen who were on the ropes beside him and for everyone in the Alamodome who saw it happen.