Is Dying in Military Training Worse than Dying in Combat?
Eight Marines and a sailor tragically drowned in a training exercise gone wrong off the coast of California in July 2020. Military hearings are underway right now at Camp Pendleton in California to determine whether some of the leaders involved that day will be kicked out of the Marine Corps.
Parents of the dead military personnel want answers, and understandably so, but is dying in military training worse than dying in combat?
The troops drowned returning to the USS Somerset from San Clemente Island in an amphibious assault vehicle (AAV). These are armored personnel carriers that become boats in the water. Yet, “Some of the aging vehicles broke down.” Some of the troops were allowed to take part in the exercise even though they hadn’t passed their required swim tests and egress training. Officers in charge told their commanders about problems with the AAVs (which have since been pulled from sea duty), but none of them stopped the training exercise.
Turns out that “sixty Marines have died in training in the last five years.”
Lupita Garcia, the mother of one of the dead—Lance Corporal Marco Barranco— a
Article from LewRockwell
