Technical Sergeant Peter Kraines was born on December 18, 1985, and was from Albany, New York. He enlisted in the Air Force in March 2011 and immediately entered the two-year pararescue training pipeline, one of the most demanding in the U.S. military. After earning his maroon beret he was assigned to the 347th Rescue Group at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia.
In March 2017 Peter was assessed and selected for Special Tactics and joined the 24th Special Operations Wing at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. As a Special Tactics pararescueman, he was trained and equipped to deploy immediately into combat to conduct combat search and rescue and personnel recovery. He was a static-line and military free-fall parachutist, an Air Force combat scuba diver and a certified emergency medical technician. His decorations include the Air Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Aerial Achievement Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Air Force Achievement Medal, the Air Force Good Conduct Medal, the Meritorious Unit Award, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the NATO Medal and the Air Force Basic Military Training Honor Graduate Ribbon.
Peter’s life was shaped by the pararescue motto, “These Things We Do, That Others May Live.” In the larger moments he always put the needs of others before his own, and in the moments no one else saw he chose a servant’s heart. His faith was central to him. He looked to the sacrifice of Jesus as his example and sought to live by John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” a verse he had tattooed beside the green footprints of the pararescue tradition. As his family has written, Peter did not die to save a life, but he died to himself again and again throughout his 33 years so that others might live fully.
On October 8, 2019, Peter was on a five-person team conducting mountain rescue and climbing training near Boise, Idaho. He was clipped to the anchor point as a safety measure while helping two teammates rappel down a cliff face. When the anchor system failed during the second descent, the rope pulled Peter from the top of the cliff, and he fell 53 feet. His teammates and emergency responders worked to save him but could not. He was 33 years old. “This is a tragic loss to the Special Tactics community,” said Colonel Matthew Allen, commander of the 24th Special Operations Wing.
Peter had recently celebrated his seventh wedding anniversary. His son was two and a half years old, and his wife was four months pregnant with their daughter. He is survived by his wife, his son and daughter, his father, his mother and his four sisters.
As a Special Tactics pararescueman, Kraines was specially trained and equipped for immediate deployment into combat operations to conduct combat search and rescue and personnel recovery operations.
24th Special Operations Wing
Sources
- Air Force: Special Tactics Airman killed in training incident (Oct. 10, 2019)
- AFSOC: AFSOC releases mountaineering accident report (June 17, 2020)
- Air Force Times: Pararescueman killed in mountain rescue training accident
- Air Force Special Tactics: Honor the Fallen, TSgt Peter Kraines
- Family-provided records on file with MVF: Peter Kraines family bio and release
