Camp Pendleton Rollover Training Exercise Kills 1 Marine, Injures 18

A Camp Pendleton rollover during a training exercise Thursday killed one Marine and injured 18 others at the California facility.

The U.S. Marine Corps has not released the name of the deceased Marine, pending notification of relatives, The Associated Press reported. He was with the 111st Marine Division.

In addition, few details are being released about the accident, according to First Lt. Colleen McFadden.

"The command's priorities are to take care of the Marines, Sailors and families of the unit," McFadden said in a statement. "We want to ensure the Marines and their family members are being provided for during this difficult time."

A hospital spokesperson for Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, California, refused to give details on several patients who were taken for treatment there, the AP said.

The news of the training accident came just a week after another training accident — this one involving a hard landing by a helicopter at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina — killed one Marine and injured 11 others, WSOC TV reported.

Staff Sgt. Jonathan Lewis, 31, of Warrenton, Virginia, was identified as the Marine who was killed in the accident on Sept. 2. During that training exercise, Marines had been practicing their skills getting out of the helicopter using ropes, WSOC said. Lewis was inside the helicopter when a hard landing occurred.

NBC Washington reported that two Marine Corps officers were killed at Camp Pendleton in January 2015 when their helicopter crashed.

The tragedy of deaths during military training exercises plagues forces worldwide. In July, the British government released statistics showing that one British serviceman died during training exercises every six weeks, The Express reported.

Still, British Col. Richard Kemp told The Express that training is necessary. To be effective, training for war has to be challenging and sometimes dangerous.

"It is a tragic fact that this type of training sometimes costs lives," he said. "I have no doubt however that realistic and demanding military training saves many more lives on the battlefield than it costs on the training ground."

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