Pope John alumnus pilots plane during harrowing evacuation out of Afghanistan

SPARTA  U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Eric Kut and his crew waited at the controls of their C-17 Globemaster cargo aircraft to take off from the airport in Kabul on a flight to safety and freedom for a planeload of passengers desperate to flee Afghanistan in the final days of the 20-year war that gripped the country. However, before takeoff, the crew radioed the control center with an astounding announcement: there were more than 800 people on board — far more than its usual capacity of up to 300 persons.

“Holy cow. OK. Hey, well, good job getting off the ground,” a member of the control center told the C-17 crew, commanded by Kut, a 1998 graduate of Pope John XXIII Regional High School here.

That daring flight by Kut, 42, and his crew flew into the history books that day, shortly before the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan by Aug. 31, for carrying a record 823 passengers, Afghan men, women, and children, on a single aircraft in a rescue mission. A dramatic photo of the passengers crammed inside of the plane was beamed around the world. And yet the Pope John community does not seem entirely surprised to learn about Kut’s compassion and courage on that heroic mission.

“Eric has always had focus and drive and is a great kid from a great family. He is a true believer in the Gospel and in our country and we are proud of him,” said Msgr. Kieran McHugh, president of Pope John, who remembers Kut when he was a student here. Kut also attended Rev. George A. Brown Memorial School, which today, along with the high school and Pope John Middle School, comprises the Catholic Academy of Sussex County. “It’s a wonderful story [of the rescue]. The plane was overcrowded. About 183 of the passengers were kids. Later, Eric told his mother [Cathy], ‘I wasn’t going to leave them behind [in Kabul],’ ” the priest said.

This above-and-beyond feat by Kut and his crew does not surprise Pope John, because Kut had dem­on­strated a flair for leadership, service, and an active faith as a student. He played on the school’s football team, leading it to a state championship as captain in his senior year; competed on the track team; and was a member of the team which coordinated SEARCH retreats at the school. In his hometown of Andover, he also volunteered on the fire department.

On Saturday, Sept. 11, Pope John honored Kut and his family near the conclusion of the Sussex Catholic Academy’s almost weeklong observance of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks [See The Beacon’s Sept. 9 issue]. On that Sept. 11 morning, Cathy Kut spoke after a school-wide Mass. In addition, Pope John officials presented the family, including his father, Andre, with a photo of the marque outside the high school, where it displayed a message to congratulate Kut on his accomplishment, said Austin Braun, the Catholic Academy’s communications director.

“I saw something about the rescue on TV like everyone else. I was surprised, because he’s not a person who breaks the rules [like loading the C-17 beyond its capacity limits] but he felt that he needed to get through the ‘red tape’ for the rescue. I’m proud of him but it’s also nerve-wracking as a military parent,” said Cathy Kut, who stays close to the Pope John family, which has been praying for Kut’s safety in the war zone. “Pope John instilled Eric with the discipline, faith, and family which made him the man he is today,” she said.

By the time of the C-17 flight, the “dynamic security environment” at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul deteriorated, as the Taliban was continuing its campaign to take over the Afghan capital city of Kabul and all of Afghanistan after a hasty exit ordered by President Biden with a deadline of Aug. 31. Members of the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, the crew took off with 823 people — far beyond its usual capacity. The previous record of 670 was set in 2013, during rescue efforts in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan.

Inside the aircraft, passengers sat crammed shoulder-to-shoulder in the hold, many with children on their laps. Crew members of that historic flight also included Tech. Sgt. Justin Triola, Airman First Class Nicolas Baron, Capt. Cory Jackson, First Lt. Mark Lawson, Staff Sgt. Derek Laurent, and Senior Airman Richard Johnson.

“We had women and children and people’s lives at stake. It was not about capacity or rules and regulations. It was about the training and the directives that we were able to handle to make sure that we could safely and effectively get that many people out and max perform those efforts,” Kut told Fox News. “We were doing what we were trained to do, making sure that everything was done to get those people out of there and to a safe [undisclosed] location and make sure that we answer our nation’s call to deliver them to freedom, that hope,” he said.

Triola told CNN that the passengers were “definitely anxious to get out of the area, and we were happy to accommodate them.

“Everybody was thrilled to actually leave. They were definitely excited once we were airborne,” noted Triola.

For almost two decades, Kut has been stationed at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Burlington County. He was graduated from The Citadel, South Carolina’s military college, in 2002. Kut has two brothers, both graduates of Rev. Brown, Pope John, and the Citadel: Chris, who is older and a teacher and track coach at the Citadel, and Alex, who is younger and manages a blood-plasma lab in Georgia.

Moved by the heroism of Kut and his crew, Braun told The Beacon, “We at Pope John are truly honored that he saved as many people as he could.

“Lt. Col. Kut showed the humanitarian efforts that Pope John students are known for,” Braun said. “He is honorable and is an honor to the Father,” he said.