New training facility memorializes combat controller

Combat control students do pushups in front of Matero Hall. Keesler’s newest technical training facility is being dedicated today in memory of Tech. Sgt. Christopher Matero, who graduated from combat control training at Keesler 15 years ago. Sergeant Matero and nine comrades died in 2002 when their MC-130H crashed into a mountainside 15 miles south of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Matero Hall dedication honors former student

Published May 21, 2008
By Susan Griggs
Keesler News Staff

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, MISS. -- At 10 a.m. today, Keesler dedicates its third new technical training facility to honor a former combat control student who died in a plane crash in the mountains of Puerto Rico nearly six years ago.

Matero Hall, situated south of Thomson and Cody Halls, is being named in memory of Tech. Sgt. Christopher Matero, who graduated from combat control training 15 years ago.

His first assignment was with the 314th Combat Control Squadron, Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. Four years later, he became a master instructor at the 342nd Training Squadron's combat control school at Pope AFB, N.C.

To better serve his students, Sergeant Matero earned a Community College of the Air Force associate degree in airway science in 1998 and a bachelor's degree in criminal justice administration from Campbell University in 2001.

Sergeant Matero left active duty in 2001 to serve in the 123rd Special Tactics Squadron, Kentucky National Guard. That year, he was on temporary duty in Morocco on Sept. 11, and soon after he returned, he and his unit were deployed to Afghanistan, where he earned the Bronze Star.

In 2002, he was called to duty with the Special Operations Command-South in Puerto Rico. While there, he learned about his selection for commissioning as an officer.

Aug. 7, 2002, while on a nighttime training flight in support of a vital classified alert mission, Sergeant Matero and nine comrades were killed when their MC-130H crashed into a mountainside 15 miles south of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

In addition to the building's dedication, Sergeant Matero is also immortalized with the Christopher Matero Communications Award given by the 342nd TRS to a combat control graduate who demonstrates exemplary tactical situational awareness in a combat environment.