Sgt. Markevian Slacks, 31, died in a car crash near the Italy-Austria border on May 2, 2026. (173rd Airborne Brigade/Facebook)
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy — Markevian Slacks wasn’t shy about asking questions.
Army Staff Sgt. Sean Finley, a platoon leader with the 173rd Airborne Brigade’s Light Support Battalion, recalled numerous times when the 31-year-old sergeant from Fitzgerald, Ga., peppered him with queries on all kinds of topics.
Finley wasn’t complaining, though. He said it was clear that Slacks just wanted to know the correct way to do things so he could follow the right path — and lead other soldiers along that way, too.
“Sgt. Slacks was a guy you always wanted on your team,” Finley said Wednesday afternoon during a memorial ceremony for Slacks, who died May 2 in an automobile crash near the border with Austria.
Slacks made a strong first impression, Finley said: “He stood out. Not only to me, but to anyone he came across.”
Slacks joined the military later than most of those who filled the base chapel. He was 26 when he enlisted in the Army in 2021. His first duty station was Aviano, home of the Air Force’s 31st Fighter Wing, to which fewer than 200 soldiers are assigned. Almost all of them, like Slacks, are assigned to the 173rd LSB’s Falcon Company as parachute riggers.
Army Sgt. Markevian Slacks was remembered at a memorial ceremony Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at Aviano Air Base, Italy. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Aviano commonly serves as a departure point for the brigade’s “Sky Soldiers” — the nickname for the 173rd Airborne Brigade — during both training jumps and real-world missions.
So although Slacks was stationed apart from most of the brigade’s troops in Vicenza, many of those attending the ceremony knew him through his work preparing paratroopers for jumps.
Slacks built strong connections across the 173rd. He was constantly seen mentoring younger soldiers and was also known for serving as the Aviano contingent’s representative to the Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers program.
Lt. Col. Rhonda Booth, the battalion commander, noted his “infectious smile.”
“Truth be told, it lit up the room,” Booth said. “Markevian brought out the best in all of us.”
Booth was one of dozens of soldiers who made the trip from Vicenza. They were joined by soldiers from Slacks’ company at Aviano and the commanders and top enlisted leaders of the three most notable U.S. military units in northern Italy: the 173rd, the 31st Fighter Wing and Southern European Task Force/U.S. Army Africa.
Soldiers fill the base chapel at Aviano Air Base, Italy, on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at the start of a memorial ceremony for Sgt. Markevian Slacks. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Capt. Ryan Onoshko, the company commander, noted that Slacks had completed 29 jumps during his time at Aviano. The plan was for him to become a jumpmaster. And he was set to appear before a promotion board next week.
Slacks earned the Expert Soldier Badge in the fall and numerous other awards in his brief Army career.
But Onoshko said all those awards don’t really tell the whole story.
“It was Sgt. Slacks’ intangibles that set him apart,” he said.
Slacks is survived by his mother, Karen, and three sisters: Alyssa, Lacree and Zoya. They could not attend the event, so it was taped for them.
Booth wanted to make sure they knew how much Slacks meant to the soldiers in his unit: “Mrs. Slacks, you raised a good man.”
Commanders from various units based in Vicenza, Italy, left insignia to pass along to the family of Sgt. Markevian Slacks at a memorial service Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at Aviano Air Base, Italy. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
