August 05, 2004

By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — A Marine Corps helicopter pilot was fatally shot Aug. 3 in Iraq in what officials are calling an accident.
Capt. Gregory A. Ratzlaff, 36, was at Forward Operating Base Duke, a base near the city of Najaf, when he was shot in what military officials said was a “non-combat related incident.”

Ratzlaff, of Olympia, Wash., was a CH-46E pilot with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 166, which is deployed as the air combat element for the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit operating in Iraq. FOB Duke is one of three bases used by the 11th MEU, which arrived in Iraq last month to take over military security and stability operations from the Army’s 1st Infantry Division.

Officials did not provide details on the accidental discharge.

Capt. Carrie Batson, 11th MEU spokeswoman, said on Aug