2 relieved when four Marines die
We talked about this a few days ago when it happened, but Pinto Nag sends us an NBC News update to the incident which cost four Marines their lives at Camp Pendelton recently;
The base said that the exact cause would never be known because the only eyewitnesses were killed. The four Marines, aged 27 to 32, had all served tours in Iraq, Afghanistan or both. Three had at least a decade of service time.
They were killed during an exercise on ordnance disposal. The base said the grenade round was probably “dropped, kicked or bumped” in a demolition pit. Investigators believe it set off other explosives being gathered for disposal, NBC San Diego reported.
We’ll never know what happened, but let’s destroy this officer’s and this NCO’s career anyway. Makes complete sense to me.
Category: Marine Corps
If there was any culpability in any form involving the two, then their punishment will come from within themselves and remain for their lives. If, as I suspect, their consciences are clear, then F those who F’ed them.
Welcome to the new and improved Marine Corps.
Zero Defects mentality is a must, all the while claiming that there is no Zero Defects mentality at work here.
This was a tragic accident. Why there needs to be scapegoats is beyond me. Recently, the Marine Corps seems to be more than willing to crush the nuts of everyone in a 5 mile radius of any accident or event that makes headlines. This used to happen quite a bit in the 90’s when we were not engaged in 2 combat theatres. Sad to see this mentality returning. I am not saying this is a reflection of the current commandant, but it is a reflection of the current commandant. Oops, I guess I did say it.
This is just the beginning. Unfortunately, peacetime breeds this kind of bullshit.
I guess the thinking is that the supervisors should have been standing next to the hole to witness the demo and make sure their lazy stupid men didn’t screw up. Makes perfect sense to me. Hell using that logic, lets just relieve everybody in their chain of command, no exceptions. And no survivors.
I am of the opinion that the current commandant was brought in specifically to promo the Women in the Infantry scam.
The rest of his craptasticalness is just plain ol’ Wing way of dealing with unpleasantries.
Put a REMF in command of the Corps and you get a Corps run on REMF Rules across the board.
Nifty way to take the fight out of the outfit, since it tends to drive out those who don’t fit the plaster saint mold.
Imo, the drive from on high is to punish the Corps for doing a 180 away from the pussification of the military that was kicked into high gear by the Clinton Regime.
Semper Fi, sir*
* uncapped sir. Respect to one who earned it rather than the capped Sir given to a uniform, so give me no shit about you working for a living.
Had a similar EOD incident while in Iraq in 2003, but there were survivors. The skinny was that a folding knife came out of a pocket and hit a mine or something else that was armed, which set it off.
yeah… I don’t get it.
The investigation states that they’ll probably never know the truth because the only witnesses died, and that it was probably the result of a grenade being accidentally dropped into the demolition pit. How in the HELL did they come to the conclusion that two people should be relieved over what seems to be an accident- and problaby caused by one of those who died, again, on accident?
this is no longer the Marine Corps in which I served and which I have loved. I must agree with Master Guns. This Commandant has brought things to our Corps that should NEVER be countenanced. Marines have had their careers ended over things which they could not have known about, much less controlled such as the murder-suicides at OCS.
We have seen multiple instances of unlawful command influence to ensure that a politically correct solution is reached regardless of the facts or the realities.
I see a “leadership” that is willing to bow to every slight breeze emanating from the White House regardless of the adverse long term consequences to our readiness and capabilities.
We have fought in every clime and place, but we are now threatened from within and we may not survive the Battle of the Beltway.
God save the United States Marine Corps.
David, Don’t worry. The Corps will survive because the next time the shit hits the fan guess who they will call. I only hope there is enough of the Corps is left to hold the enemy long enough for the rest of us to show up. Remember Manila, Bataan, Corregidor, Wake and Guam all over run or surrendered before help could arrive. If the Corps could survive that it can survive Obama and his sycophants.
This is the same Marine Corps that forced Chesty Puller to retire; the politically-motivated Corps; not the Corps I served in.
Sad really. Not just the lose of the Marines but the whole, “somebodies got to pay for this now” program.
I wonder why no one in the state department was relieved when 4 people died. Long Live “saint” hillary
Lawrence Todd, you said it my man. Here-Here!
I can say with certainty that there is no amount of bullshit checklist filling out or risk assessment writing that could have prevented this accident. ***Accident*** EOD is inherently dangerous and every badge wearer understands this. Calculated risks are taken every time a piece of ordnance is moved or a procedure is performed and I hate to say it but sometimes shit just happens. There is no reason to destroy two careers over something they had zero control over. This environment of someone must hang is crippling the military and keeps people from making decisions out of fear.
I also wish they would stop calling this an exercise. They were performing an EOD mission. Range clearances are not training.
Good point on the training exercise versus mission distinction.
Classic marine corps blue falcon in action.
It’s only a matter of when you get thrown under the bus in that gun club not if.
Just the result of senior officers eating their own to save their own ass. This is just part of a trend in the diminishing quality of our officer corps lately. They don’t seem to be very stable, or reasonable, and will stop at nothing to preserve their own careers, and the pain is felt all the way down the chain.
The JAG investigation found that supervision was adequate and no EOD procedures were violated. The Decision was overruled based on what?
“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” John Adams