Three officers connected to the death of a Navy SEAL trainee who collapsed and died hours after finishing the Hell Week test in February have been reprimanded, the Navy's Special Warfare Command said.
The Associated Press reports that administrative "non-punitive" letters were given to Capt. Brian Drechsler, commodore of the Naval Special Warfare Center; Capt. Brad Geary, commanding officer of Naval Special Warfare's Basic Training Command; and an unnamed senior medical officer. The officers were not directly blamed or fired for the death of SEAL candidate Kyle Mullen, 24, of Manalapan, New Jersey.
Drechsler and the medical officer remain in their same positions, while Geary has moved on to a staff job that was planned before Mullen's death.
Mullen died Feb. 4, having just completed Hell Week — the five-and-a-half-day test that comes during the first assessment phase for SEAL candidates trying to get into the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training course.
A new report released by the command Wednesday found that Mullen died "in the line of duty, not due to his own misconduct." It also raised questions about how the service monitors trainees who are wary of reporting medical issues for fear of being disqualified from the class.
According to the report, Mullen died of cardiac arrest caused by acute pneumonia shortly after he successfully finished Hell Week and went to his barracks in a wheelchair. When his condition worsened, a medical officer on duty recommended they call 911, but the call wasn't placed until 90 minutes later. Fire department personnel found Mullen unresponsive, according to the report, and he was declared dead at Sharp Coronado Hospital.
Interviews with several of Mullen's classmates revealed that he was coughing up pink foam and was struggling to breathe during Hell Week before his death. He was given oxygen twice on the last morning of the test. They added that he did not want to seek greater medical care.
According to the report, Mullen was suffering from a swimming-induced pulmonary edema and had an enlarged heart, which contributed to his death.
Pulmonary edema can happen in SEAL trainees, as training exercises often occur in the Pacific Ocean, and Mullen had been diagnosed with the condition three weeks before Hell Week, according to the report.
Performance-enhancing drugs, including steroids and human growth hormone, were found in Mullen's belongings, but the medical examiner's autopsy report found there was no evidence of drugs in Mullen's system and said they were not a contributing factor to his death.
In August, The New York Times reported that the command launched a separate investigation and found approximately 40 other SEAL trainees had used performance-enhancing drugs.
Mullen's death and the Navy's investigations have led to several changes as to how candidates are monitored during SEAL training and increased testing for performance-enhancing drugs, according to The AP.
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