identified<\/a> the airman Friday as 1st Class Cedric Eneluna, 23, a member of the 30th Civil Engineer Squadron\u2019s Pavements and Equipment Flight.<\/p>\nNo other personnel were injured in the incident, according to a Space Force release. A Safety Board Investigation was launched, and details will not be released until the completion of the investigation.<\/p>\n
The Santa Barbara Coroner\u2019s office had not determined the official cause of death as of Friday.<\/p>\n
Eneluna joined the military in 2024, and he arrived to his first duty assignment at Vandenberg in August of that year, the release reads.<\/p>\n
\u201cEneluna served with professionalism, humility, and an unwavering commitment to his teammates and the mission,\u201d the release says. \u201cDuring his assignment at Vandenberg, he earned the respect and admiration of those around him through his positive attitude, tireless work ethic, and willingness to help others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eneluna spent his childhood in the Philippines and referred to Fayetteville, North Carolina, as his hometown.<\/p>\n
The 30th Pavements and Equipment Flight unit are known as the \u201cDirt Boyz\u201d and are tasked with maintaining the base\u2019s roads, airfield and infrastructure in support of the base\u2019s launch, test and range operations.<\/p>\n
The \u201cDirt Boyz\u201d remember Eneluna as a positive influence who made everyone feel welcome, the release says, and he never hesitated to lend a helping hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe brought out the best in everyone,\u201d said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Seth Poulsen, 30th CES commander. \u201cHe was always ready to work, always willing to help, and always had a positive attitude. He truly represented what it means to be an Airman.\u201d<\/p>\n
The base will share details surrounding any upcoming memorial services or recognition on the Central Coast at a later date.<\/p>\n
Cristina Stassis is a reporter covering stories surrounding the defense industry, national security, military\/veteran affairs and more. She previously worked as an editorial fellow for Defense News in 2024 where she assisted the newsroom in breaking news across Sightline Media Group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A U.S. airman died Thursday after heavy equipment he was operating rolled down an embankment at Vandenberg Space…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[162916,7,9,8,162410,10918,10916,162913,162915,162917,10921,162914,44695],"class_list":["post-406390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-30th-pavements-and-equipment-flight","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-cedric-eneluna","tag-circulated-air-force-times","tag-circulated-military-times","tag-civil-engineer","tag-dirt-boyz","tag-lt-col-seth-poulsen","tag-military-times","tag-safety-board-investigation","tag-vandenberg-space-force-base"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}