Two U.S. Navy SEALs drowned as they tried to climb aboard a ship carrying illicit Iranian-made weapons to Yemen because of glaring training failures and a lack of understanding about what to do after falling into deep, turbulent waters, according to a military investigation into the January deaths.
The review concluded that the drownings of Chief Special Warfare Operator Christopher J. Chambers and Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Nathan Gage Ingram could have been prevented. But both sank quickly in the high seas off the coast of Somalia, weighed down by heavy equipment they were carrying and not knowing or disregarding concerns that their flotation devices could not compensate for the additional weight. Both were lost at sea.
The highly critical and heavily redacted report — written by a Navy officer from outside Naval Special Warfare Command, which oversees the SEALs — concluded there were “deficiencies, gaps and inconsistencies” in training, policies, tactics and procedures as well as “conflicting guidance” on when and how to use emergency flotation devices and extra buoyancy material that could have kept them alive.
It’s ironic that a pair of soldiers who are expected to go into the most dangerous situations and are prepared to mitigate those risks as far as possible would get taken out by an OSHA violation.
I notice that military and police are often vexed by threats that can’t be solved by shooting it.
If we are sending our most elite specialized people out to do these jobs and they don’t know that they are negatively buoyant in their gear, something (else) has gone very very wrong in SEAL country.
That organization needs some serious unfucking, probably associated with some downsizing, but the public regard for the reputation of the SEALs is such that it’s not gonna happen.
That’s shit they train you for your normal scuba certification, it’s not rocket surgery, the bcd has very strict limits.
Why didn’t they give the seals an upgraded one? Or a separate one they could attach to the gear?