The pinnacle of the Naval Particular Warfare Heart — the command that oversees a lot of the coaching for Navy SEALs — has been transferred out of his job early. He had just lately been reprimanded for his half within the high-profile demise of a Navy SEAL candidate final 12 months.
In a press release launched Tuesday night, the Navy introduced that Capt. Mark Burke relieved Capt. Brian Drechsler. The service held a change of command ceremony earlier Tuesday, overseen by Rear Adm. Keith Davids, the top of Naval Particular Warfare Command.
A spokesman for the command famous that Drechsler was not relieved because of poor efficiency or any violations of guidelines or laws however relatively that Davids made the choice to maneuver up the already scheduled turnover to raised concentrate on addressing among the lingering points recognized by the Navy’s personal investigation into the demise of Seaman Kyle Mullen in February 2022.
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Nevertheless, Drechsler was considered one of three officers who obtained administrative “non-punitive” letters following Mullen’s demise. Whereas the letters themselves carry no punishment, they sometimes render an officer unpromotable.
The primary launched investigation into the aspiring SEAL’s demise revealed the lethal tradition that exists in the course of the torturous “Hell Week” portion of the Navy’s Primary Underwater Demolition/SEAL coaching, or BUD/S — the primary of a number of programs younger sailors bear to grow to be SEALs.
The investigation, which was launched in October, confirmed that recruits like Mullen are pushed to cover signs and ache as a way to full the coaching or out of concern of being dropped from this system.
The report additionally highlighted a harmful message that recruits had been advised by management: Calling outdoors medical doctors results in bother. One sailor advised investigators that “he and the opposite college students had been instructed to not name 911 and to not go to the emergency room.”
Mullen’s mom, Regina Mullen, advised Espresso or Die Journal that she believes her son “was tortured.”
She mentioned that the paramedic who handled her son advised her “there was blood in every single place.”
The coaching program for the Navy’s elite commandos is additionally present process one other investigation that’s being run by an admiral outdoors of the secretive and cloistered particular warfare neighborhood. Naval Particular Warfare Command has promised to make the outcomes of this investigation public when it’s full.
The Related Press reported that Drechsler advised his command in a message earlier than his aid that “it’s essential that we keep the momentum we’ve got made to enhance our coaching, security, and medical oversight whereas balancing the necessity to forge the world’s biggest warriors.”
Dreschler commissioned within the Navy in 1998 and was assigned to each SEAL Staff One and 5 all through his profession, in accordance with a biography supplied by the service.
He additionally accomplished fight excursions in each Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to deployments to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and U.S. Central Command areas of operations. Amongst his quite a few awards are three Fight Motion Ribbons and three Bronze Stars, two of which have “fight V” gadgets denoting that the award was given for bravery in fight.
— Konstantin Toropin might be reached at konstantin.toropin@navy.com. Comply with him on Twitter @ktoropin.
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