Marine dies in rollover accident during training in Twentynine Palms – Orange County Register

A Marine involved in a vehicle rollover at Marine Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms has died, military officials said Monday.

The Marine was part of the Tactical Exercise Control Group overseeing a service-level exercise on Saturday, July 27, when the vehicle overturned. The exercises, which involve live-fire and combined arms, are designed to qualify Marine battalions for upcoming deployments and missions.

While it is unclear what the Marine was doing, officials said the rollover occurred using a highly mobile multipurpose vehicle.

The lightweight, four-wheel-drive vehicle is agile and can carry military weapons ranging from machine guns to anti-tank missiles. It can drive through deserts and jungles, climb 60-degree slopes and cross 1.5-meter-deep water.

The Marine was initially treated at the Robert E. Bush Naval Hospital in Twentynine Palms and then flown to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, where doctors pronounced him dead on Sunday, July 28.

No other Marines were injured in the incident.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the Marine’s family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time,” Navy officials said in a statement.

The Marine’s identity will not be released until all next of kin have been notified. His unit is stationed in Twentynine Palms.

The Marine Corps has also experienced numerous fatal vehicle rollovers. In 2021, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report examining rollovers in both the Marine Corps and the Army. It found that between 2010 and 2019, the two services reported 3,753 non-combat vehicle crashes that resulted in 124 deaths. Vehicle rollovers were the cause of death in 63% of the crashes.

The report was created in 2019 at the request of lawmakers spurred by families whose loved ones died in the accidents. Among the most vocal were the parents and then-fiancée of 1st Lt. Conor McDowell, 24, who died in a training accident in the Las Pulgas area of ​​Camp Pendleton on May 9, 2019. Six other Marines suffered moderate injuries.

Less than a month before McDowell’s death, another Camp Pendleton Marine, Staff Sgt. Joshua Braica, 29, a member of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, was also killed in a rollover accident. The men were two of six people killed and nine injured in a two-month period this year.

The GAO made recommendations and both the Marine Corps and the Army agreed to implement stricter security measures in vehicles and at firing ranges.

In December, a Marine died at Camp Pendleton when an amphibious assault vehicle rolled over. The vehicle was engaged in a land exercise when it rolled over. Fourteen other occupants of the vehicle were also injured but were extricated after being hospitalized.

The Marines are investigating the cause of this weekend’s rollover in Twentynine Palms.