The Navy has confirmed that it has begun an investigation into the coaching that Navy SEAL recruits endure within the wake of the demise of Seaman Kyle Mullen — a sailor who died simply after passing the preliminary part of the coaching in February — in addition to experiences that this system is rife with drug use, dishonest and abuse.
A service spokesperson mentioned in an announcement that “senior Navy leaders have initiated a separate investigation to have a look at the broader circumstances that have been, partially, raised by Mullen’s demise.”
The spokesperson additionally famous that “the Line of Responsibility investigation into the tragic demise of Seaman Kyle Mullen is being finalized and reviewed,” including that when it’s full, “it is going to be given to his household and launched.”
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Mullen, 24, was a Navy SEAL candidate who died simply hours after finishing the grueling “Hell Week” in early February. Early statements by the Navy mentioned he started “experiencing signs of an unknown sickness.”
Nevertheless, months after Mullen’s demise, his mom, Regina Mullen, now armed with extra info given to her by the Navy, started to talk out. In July, she revealed that Mullen’s post-mortem confirmed that he had managed to finish “Hell Week” — extensively believed to be one of many hardest navy coaching regimens — whereas affected by pneumonia.
The coroner’s report mentioned that, within the hours after Hell Week ended, Mullen tried to get better however his lungs full of fluid and he stuffed a water bottle with bloody sputum. Medics spent half-hour making an attempt to revive the younger sailor earlier than lastly taking him to a civilian hospital in San Diego.
“My son was tortured,” Mullen’s mom informed Espresso or Die Journal. “He was mendacity within the barracks on a dirty mattress on the ground. He ought to have been within the hospital.”
Later reporting by The New York Occasions revealed that Mullen wasn’t the one sailor to develop critical points in that group of trainees. That very same afternoon, one other sailor needed to be intubated, and two others have been hospitalized that night.
The reporting by the Occasions additionally described a tradition of medicine and performance-enhancing substance consumption that has developed over the past decade. Nevertheless, the revelations within the reporting, together with Mullen’s demise, have led the Navy to grapple with the query of whether or not its famed coaching is now too punishing — that it drives sailors to the brink of demise or into dishonest with medication and different substances.
The Navy spokesperson mentioned that the service “can’t present an actual date as to when these investigations will probably be accomplished” however asserts that it “stays dedicated to transparency and guaranteeing the ultimate experiences are thorough, correct, neutral, and that confidence and credibility are maintained all through your complete course of.”
The investigation, first reported by The New York Occasions, will probably be run by a rear admiral from outdoors the Navy’s particular warfare group, in accordance with that report.
Allegations that the SEAL coaching program is just too brutal and unsafe will not be new. In 1991, a Authorities Accountability Workplace report famous that instructors have been “conducting some coaching that was not accredited by increased authorities as a part of the curriculum and a few which will contain unacceptable dangers to college students.” The report added that some workouts that have been noticed “didn’t belong in a primary SEAL course” and cited examples like waterboarding the trainees.
On the time of that report’s launch, the Chief of Naval Training and Coaching assured investigators that the “waterboard torture demonstration would positively not be accredited” for SEAL coaching sooner or later.
— Konstantin Toropin will be reached at konstantin.toropin@navy.com. Comply with him on Twitter @ktoropin.
Associated: ‘My Son Was Tortured’: Mother of SEAL Candidate Who Died Hours After Finishing ‘Hell Week’ Speaks Out
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