Christopher K. Raible

Lt. Col. Christopher K. Raible was raised in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, graduating Norwin High School with honors, ranking seventh in his class. He then attended Kent State University for one year where he studied aviation before transferring to Carnegie Mellon University where he graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1995.

Upon graduation, Christopher pursued his dream to become a Marine aviator and was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps going on to an accomplished career as an AV8-Harrier pilot. Lt. Col. Raible was killed in action on September 14, 2012 during an attack by Taliban militants on the Camp Bastion military base in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

Throughout his eighteen year career, Lt. Col. Christopher Raible moved quickly through the ranks and eventually became the commanding officer of Marine Attack Squadron VMA-211. As a Requirements Officer assigned to Headquarters Marine Corps between 2009 and 2011, Christopher worked tirelessly on the F-35 Lightning II project and was honored for his work in the development of the next-generation of Marine aviation. While it is customary for the name of the pilot of any aircraft to be on the jet, the first F-35 aircraft flown was painted with Lt. Col. Raible’s name in honor of both his contributions to F-35 program and his career as a Marine aviator.

Lt. Col. Raible’s personal awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Air Medal-Strike/Flight (numeral 10), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (second award), Air Medal-Individual Action, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, National Defense Service Medal (second award), the Bronze Star, and NATO Service Medal-International Security Assistance Force. He also received the Distinguished Public Service Award from Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2013 when it was renamed to the Lt. Col. Christopher K. Raible Distinguished Public Service Award.

Lt. Col. Raible is survived by wife Donnella, children Catherine, Allison and Bryan, parents Al and Kim Raible, and sister Lona.